THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


STONEWALL  JACKSON  LTD. 

BOOKSELLERS 
53    ST     MARTIN'S    LANE.    W  C.2 


THE  ORIGIN  OF 
SUPERNATURAL  CONCEPTIONS 


THE 

Origin  of  Supernatural 
Conceptions 

AND 

DEVELOPMENT    OF    RELIGIONS 

FROM  PREHISTORIC 

TIMES 

•By 
JOHN   JAMES  GREENOUGH 


Boston 

PUBLISHED    BY   THE   AUTHOR 

AJtlras,  Alton  Place.  Biooltlinc 

1906 


Copyright,  1906 
BY  JOHN  JAMES  GREENOUGH 


All  rights  reserved 


COLONIAL  PRESS 

EUctrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  <&*  Co. 
Boston,   U.S.A. 


To  m#  /e//ou>  citizens  I  dedicate  this  work,  a  labor  of  love,  the 
result  of  nearly  three  -  quarters  of  a  century  of  careful  investigation 
and  thought  unbiassed  by  any  preconceived  theory  or  dogmatic  as- 
sumption. It  is  based  entirely  on  the  statements  derived  from  the 
earliest  Written  legends  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  logically 
construed  for  the  judgment  of  the  critical  and  independent  investiga- 
tors who  with  the  writer  desire  the  highest  good  for  their  fellow  men. 

J.  /  G. 

Alton  Place,  BrookUne 
Jan.  19,  1904. 


.    - 


Abou-Ben-Adhem  (may  his  tribe  increase !) 

Awoke  one  night  from  a  deep  dream  of  peace, 

And  saw  within  the  moonlight  of  his  room, 

Making  it  rich  and  like  a  lily  in  bloom, 

An  Angel  writing  in  a  book  of  gold. 

Exceeding  peace  had  made  Ben  Adhem  bold, 

And  to  the  presence  in  the  room  he  said, 

"  What  writest  thou?  "     The  vision  raised  its  head, 

And  with  a  look  made  of  all  sweet  accord, 

Answered,  "  The  names  of  those  who  love  the  Lord." 

"  And  is  mine  one  ?  "  said  Abou.  "  Nay,  not  so," 

Replied  the  angel.     Abou  spoke  more  low, 

But  cheerily  still,  and  said,  "  I  pray  thee,  then, 

Write  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellow  men." 

The  angel  wrote  and  vanished.     The  next  night 

It  came  again  with  a  great  wakening  light, 

And  showed  the  names  whom  love  of  God  had  blessed.  - 

And  lo !   Ben  Adbem's  name  led  all  the  rest ! 

—  LEIGH  HUNT. 


Vll 


Preface 


THE  knowledge  of  the  advent  of  man  and  his  sta- 
tus in  the  universe  wherein  he  found  himself  prior  to 
the  attainment  of  modern  science,  was  derived  from 
traditionary  legends  evolved  from  the  vivid  imagi- 
nations of  the  human  brain  attempting  to  interpret 
the  history  of  his  creation,  and  the  purpose  of  his 
existence.  It  is  apparent  that  those  legends  have 
a  fictitious  origin,  although  they  were  assumed  to  be 
divine  revelations.  There  is  a  tendency  in  the  hu- 
man mind  to  retain  its  early  impressions  with  great 
tenacity;  and  it  is  difficult,  and  often  impossible, 
to  unlearn  the  most  illogical  and  preposterous  falla- 
cies that  men  have  been  taught  as  truths  in  their 
earlier  life  while  they  seize  with  avidity  every  pre- 
tension to  reveal  a  future  life  they  have  learned  to 
believe  in,  but  of  which  no  man  has  any  knowl- 
edge or  comprehension,  except  from  the  fabulous 
traditions  of  unknown  writers. 

Up  to  a  comparatively  recent  date  no  true  solu- 
ix 


tion  of  the  mechanism  of  the  universe  was  achieved, 
about  which  the  writers  of  all  prior  histories  and 
legends  called  revelations  were  in  entire  ignorance. 
To  doubt  the  truth  of  these  so-called  revelations  has 
been  deemed  sacrilegious,  and  has  often  been  vis- 
ited with  drastic  punishment  for  the  alleged  profa- 
nation. The  present  age  has  emerged  from  the 
thraldom  of  this  ancient  bigotry,  and  finds  no  trace 
in  recent  history  of  any  supernatural  act  or  com- 
munication; which  naturally  engenders  a  doubt  of 
the  truthfulness  of  the  ancient  traditions  that  is  still 
further  confirmed  by  the  fundamental  errors  to  be 
found  in  all  traditional  revelations. 

With  the  above  facts  clearly  established  we  may 
venture  upon  a  strict  investigation  of  the  ancient 
writings,  with  no  hesitation  on  our  part  in  repudiat- 
ing the  narratives  of  supernatural  occurrences  of 
which  modern  experience  has  no  truthful  example. 

In  investigating  the  superstitions  that  have  per- 
vaded the  thoughts  of  man  from  a  period  anterior 
to  historic  data,  which  have  formed  so  much  of  the 
traditional  and  written  literature  with  which  the  state- 
ment of  facts  has  been  inextricably  interwoven,  it  is 
difficult  to  trace  the  true  origin  of  the  myths  of  un- 
known ages.  While  the  supernatural  events  re- 
corded in  Eastern  legends  may  be  retained  as  illus- 


trations  of  the  creative  power  of  the  active  imagina- 
tion of  the  human  mind,  they  have  long  since  been 
discarded  as  realities  by  the  world  of  science. 

There  is  a  firm  belief  still  retained  by  a  large  ma- 
jority of  men  in  the  truth  of  traditionary  miracles 
and  divine  interposition,  on  which  the  dominant 
religions  are  founded.  We  note  that  in  religions 
holding  a  common  origin,  there  are  numerous  sects 
and  interpreters  radically  opposed  to  each  other, 
which  in  past  times  have  produced  dissensions  and 
bloody  strife,  and  are  still  a  source  of  polemic  wran- 
gling and  waring  disaster. 

Before  attempting  to  investigate  the  origin  of  re- 
ligion, it  may  be  well  to  fix  a  definite  meaning  to  that 
constantly  employed  word.  We  find  in  the  modern 
lexicons  numerous  meanings  ascribed  to  the  word 
religion,  that  differ  widely  in  their  nature,  and  are 
antagonistic  in  their  purport.  If  by  religion  is  meant 
the  healthful  development  of  a  right  life,  a  practice 
of  conscientious  duty  to  our  fellow  men,  and  abstain- 
ing from  all  injustice,  every  right-minded  man  must 
give  it  his  approval.  But  if  by  religion  is  meant  "  a 
system  of  faith  in,  and  worship  of,  a  divine  being 
or  beings  "  (entirely  beyond  our  knowledge,  except 
from  the  traditions  of  unknown  authors  of  mystic 
legends,  unconfirmed),  the  modern  agnostic  disbe- 

xi 


lieves.  We  have  generally  used  the  word  religion  in 
the  latter  sense,  as  dogmatic,  in  the  succeeding  pages. 

There  are  few  noted  scientists  in  modern  times 
who  would  not  be  classed  as  agnostics.  They  are 
generally  so  entirely  engrossed  in  the  search  for,  and 
development  of,  truth,  which  is  making  such  won- 
derful progress  at  the  present  day,  that  they  have 
no  time  to  devote  to  discussions  about  current  be- 
liefs in  religion,  nor  to  the  petty  altercations  of  the 
theologians  over  dogmatic  interpretations  and  creeds, 
which  neither  their  authors  nor  interpreters  have 
any  real  knowledge  of  the  truth  of,  and  of  which 
there  is  no  proof  but  vague  tradition. 

The  mission  of  an  iconoclast  is  not  only  displeas- 
ing but  perilous ;  in  attempting  to  destroy  the  time- 
consecrated  idols  believed  in  for  ages,  he  cannot 
expect  to  escape  vituperation,  unfair  criticism,  and 
opposition.  Fortunately  in  these  days  he  cannot 
here  be  assailed  with  imprisonment,  torture,  or  death. 
Ostracism,  anathema,  and  slander  are  the  only 
weapons  left  the  fanatical  force  in  America,  although 
severer  penalties  are  still  imposed  elsewhere  for  dif- 
fering from  or  opposing  established  faith. 

Some  fifty  years  or  more  ago,  I  was  impelled  to 
write  upon  this  subject;  but  I  then  felt  that,  in  at- 
tempting to  destroy  a  delusion  on  which  organized 

xii 


society  was  founded,  and  for  which  I  had  no  efficient 
substitute,  I  might  weaken  the  organization  of  so- 
ciety. This  caused  me  then  to  delay  further  action, 
but  time  has  now  convinced  me  that  until  the  fabu- 
lous is  expurgated  from  human  reason  there  is  no 
hope  that  any  radical  improvement  in  true  culture 
can  be  attained. 

The  hideous  crimes  that  have  been  perpetrated 
even  in  modern  times,  in  priestridden  nations,  con- 
clusively show  that  power  alone  is  wanted  to  reenact 
the  barbarism  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  and  the 
prohibition  of  free  thought.  The  incarceration  of 
an  innocent  girl  in  a  nunnery,  recently  enacted  in 
Europe,  for  desiring  to  marry  in  opposition  to  the 
will  of  her  parents,  where  she  was  walled  up  for 
twenty  years  in  a  living  tomb  by  a  brutal  fiend,  the 
superior  (who  was  made  a  brutal  fiend  by  her  fanati- 
cal faith,  until  all  the  elements  of  humanity  and 
true  womanhood  were  extinguished  in  her),  is  too 
heartrending  and  revolting  to  be  passed  over  in  si- 
lence. It  must  remain  as  an  episode  of  a  religion  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

The  more  recent  offence  of  a  French  Jesuit  was 
brought  to  light  in  the  courts  in  the  present  century, 
where  it  was  shown  that  a  Jesuit  priest  called  ' '  Pere 
Rouvirier  "  (his  name  should  be  execrated  for  his 

xiii 


damnable  arts)  so  wrought  upon  a  sensitive  neo- 
phyte of  wealth  as  to  cause  her  to  martyrize  herself 
until  she  died,  suffering  torture,  that  he  might  reap 
the  fruits  of  her  wealth,  which  the  enlightened 
French  court  happily  frustrated  by  annulling  her 
will.  The  sad  history  of  this  poor  girl's  sufferings 
in  mind  and  body  is  heartrending;  and  when  we 
learn  that  it  was  endured  through  the  teachings  and 
instigation  of  this  human  monster  under  the  guise 
of  divine  instruction,  we  must  condemn  in  the  se- 
verest terms  a  religion  that  produces  such  fruits. 
But  we  hear  the  Protestants  exclaim,  ' '  This  is  not 
Christianity  as  taught  by  us."  Unfortunately  I 
remember  the  incarceration  in  the  last  century  of 
Robert  Taylor  in  Protestant  England,  because  he 
published  his  belief  that  the  Christian  religion  had 
no  indisputable  foundation  for  claiming  a  higher 
morality  or  truth  than  any  other,  and  the  earlier 
persecution  of  the  Quakers  and  others  in  England, 
Scotland,  and  America,  remnants  of  which  remain 
of  this  repression  in  the  legal  interference  with  natu- 
ral rights  still  extant.  It  may  be  well  for  modern 
sectarians  to  investigate  how  far  the  acts  of  their 
predecessors  accord  with  the  views  that  have  been 
produced  in  the  moral  code  evoked  by  modern  sci- 
ence at  the  present  day. 

xiv 


We  see  superstitions  still  active,  like  those  which 
misled  the  world  in  earlier  times,  engendering  strange 
aberrations  of  reason  and  common  sense  in  this 
enlightened  age  and  country,  culminating  in  the 
knowledge  that  such  gross  impostors  as  Ann  Lee,  the 
female  Christ  of  the  Shakers,  Joseph  Smith,  the 
prophet  of  the  Mormons,  Mrs.  Eddy,  the  Christian 
Scientist,  and  that  audacious  pretender,  Dowie,  have 
all  gathered  hosts  of  followers,  often  highly  intelli- 
gent, who  profess  to  believe  in  their  divine  mission ; 
and  there  are  not  a  few  at  this  time  who  may  have 
serious  dubitancy  on  the  subject  of  their  teachings 
that  are  inclined  to  join  them. 

If  it  is  assumed  that  any  supernatural  phenome- 
non ever  occurred  in  this  world  at  any  time,  there 
can  be  no  insuperable  barrier  to  a  claim  for  its 
repetition,  or  a  belief  in  its  accomplishment  by  any 
pretender  to  divine  inspiration  and  power. 

I  ask  for  no  leniency  or  favor,  and  offer  no  apology, 
for  what  I  have  written  in  the  following  pages.  If 
anything  therein  can  be  proved  to  be  erroneous,  I 
shall  gladly  accept  and  acknowledge  the  correction. 

J.  J.  GREENOUGH. 

BROOKLINE,  Jan.  19,  1905. 


XV 


Introduction 


IN  this  essay  on  the  origin  of  the  superstitions  and 
dogmas  of  the  human  race,  I  have  attempted  to 
trace  their  derivation  and  development,  through 
man 's  innate  intellectual  powers,  which  have  evolved 
ideas  of  a  transcendent  being  actuating  the  creation, 
—  ideas  that  are  deduced  from  the  natural  laws  of 
mental  evolution. 

My  endeavor  has  been  to  show  that  there  never 
was  a  supernatural  revelation,  miracle,  or  other  ab- 
normal manifestation,  from  any  spiritual  entity,  or 
other  source  divine;  and  that  all  legends  recording 
phenomena  of  that  character,  with  which  the  world 's 
literature  is  filled,  were  derived  from  unexplained 
natural  phenomena,  or  the  human  imagination,  be- 
fore a  true  knowledge  of  the  cosmos,  or  psychic  laws, 
was  conceived. 

I  have  suggested  the  probable  origin  of  supernatu- 
ral conceptions,  from  their  primitive  source  up  to 
xvii 


Knttotructfon 

their  development  in  historic  times.  A  critical  ex- 
amination and  analysis  of  the  ancient  records  will 
clearly  show  their  source  to  be  the  human  brain; 
this  is  obviously  apparent  in  the  voluminous  Indian, 
Egyptian,  Babylonian,  and  Assyrian  writings,  and 
through  Grecian  and  Roman  mythology,  down  to  the 
Christian  era  —  an  outcome  of  Alexandrian  culture, 
the  mother  of  sectaries. 

I  have  only  sketched  concisely  some  of  the  numer- 
ous exhibitions  of  an  early  mental  activity,  for, 
tempting  as  the  subject  is,  it  has  been  fully  elabo- 
rated by  writers  more  learned  and  able  than  myself. 

My  first  chapters  are  briefly  introductory  to  an 
extended  investigation  of  Judaism  and  Chris- 
tianity, past  and  present,  and  the  primitive  char- 
acter of  the  Hebrews'  God  as  depicted  in  the  Old 
Testament,  upon  which  the  Christian  religion  is 
founded. 

While  carefully  evolving  a  life  of  Christ  from  the 
traditional  narratives  of  his  followers,  as  recorded 
in  the  Gospels,  that  were  written  a  hundred  years 
or  more  after  his  death  by  unconditional  believers 
in  his  divinity,  we  have  produced  a  somewhat  less 
transcendent  delineation  of  him  who  posed  as  the 
Messiah  of  the  Hebrews  hi  the  Gospels,  and  de- 
clared himself  "  King  of  the  Jews, ' '  for  which  he  was 
xviii 


Xntroirtutiiw 

tried  by  the  Roman  governor  Pilate,  found  guilty, 
and  crucified. 

Although  all  mention  of  Christ's  belligerent  acts 
is  omitted  in  the  Gospels,  with  one  notable  excep- 
tion, —  when  he  entered  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem 
with  a  host  of  followers  shouting  hosannas,  who  pro- 
claimed him  "  King  of  the  Jews, ' '  and  drove  out  the 
occupants,  —  yet  his  bellicose  utterances  and  con- 
stant movements  with  an  army  of  catechumens, 
thousands  in  number,  indicate  unrecorded  overt 
acts,  which  furnish  the  only  rational  reason  for  his 
execution. 

Entering  upon  this  task  with  no  desire  to  estab- 
lish any  unwarranted  theory,  but  simply  to  elicit  a 
rational  interpretation  of  a  life  record  assumed  to 
be  divine,  drawn  from  the  fragmentary  records  of 
catechumens,  that  were  written  from  tradition  long 
after  the  time  the  events  were  said  to  have  occurred, 
I  have  endeavored  to  reconcile  and  render  intelli- 
gible the  great  contrariety  of  teachings  and  acts  re- 
corded, that  led  up  to,  and  account  for,  the  cruci- 
fixion ;  which  under  any  other  theory  would  seem  to 
be  baseless  and  inexplicable. 

A  candid  examination  of  the  teachings  of  the 
gospel  with  the  influence  of  a  divine  afflatus  elimi- 
nated, shows  that  the  apothegms  and  proverbs  are 

xix 


Kutrotructfou 

mostly  found  in  the  teachings  drawn  from  earlier 
sources,  anticipated  by  uninspired  men  long  before 
the  birth  of  Christ, —  notably  the  Hindu  writings, 
the  Golden  Rule  of  Confucius,  and  the  moral  teach- 
ings of  Pythagoras,  —  while  some  of  the  instruc- 
tions in  the  Gospels  seem  inequitable  and  unprac- 
tical, if  not  immoral. 

My  purpose  is  to  convince  my  fellow  men  that 
they  have  received  at  their  birth  all  the  revelation 
that  they  will  ever  receive,  in  the  fundamental  power 
to  attain  the  knowledge  they  can  compass  by  their 
own  exertions,  or  from  the  acquirements  of  their 
compeers.  On  the  proper  use  of  man 's  mental  pow- 
ers will  depend  the  best  results  for  human  advance- 
ment. This  is  shown  in  the  profound  intellectual 
and  moral  teaching  of  recent  times,  and  the  refined 
culture  evolved  by  the  genius  and  learning  of  modern 
civilization,  due  to  scientific  cultivation.  Ancient 
truisms  are  often  used  as  texts,  with  the  assumed 
glamour  of  divine  revelation,  to  base  profound  hom- 
ilies upon.  These  could  not  have  been  achieved 
until  modern  science  burst  the  shackles  with  which 
dogmatic  religion  sought  to  bind  the  free  volition  of 
man,  and  his  freedom  of  thought. 

We  believe  the  world  is  the  home  and  field  of  labor 
of  the  human  race,  and  is  governed  by  immutable 

xx 


Kntrotructfon 

laws  that  no  power  of  man  can  change.  His  duty 
is  to  learn  their  purport,  and  avail  himself  of  their 
uses ;  to  neglect  or  evade  this  we  assume  is  a  crime. 
It  should  be  our  highest  aspiration  to  act  benefi- 
cently for  the  race,  and  for  ourselves ;  our  lives  are 
a  birthright  for  us  to  exercise  our  intellects  upon, 
and  improve  in  knowledge  and  wisdom;  by  so  do- 
ing we  shall  render  the  highest  and  holiest  tribute 
of  reverence  to  the  genitor  of  our  being,  whose  works 
are  our  lesson,  to  be  studied  for  the  welfare  of  man- 
kind, not  to  be  ignored  or  neglected  for  ideal  crea- 
tions. 

The  universe  which  is  spread  before  us  we  are 
comparatively  ignorant  of.  Let  us  seek  to  obtain 
a  knowledge  of  the  attainable  before  we  attempt  to 
fathom  a  hereafter  that  we  can  never  know  in  our 
present  state,  or  obtain  a  knowledge  of  from  the 
crude  and  superstitious  records  of  an  anterior  age. 

In  tracing  the  source  from  which  the  origins  of 
tlie  superstitions  of  the  world  are  derived,  and  the 
innumerable  ideal  creations  emanating  from  the  fer- 
tile imagination  of  man,  we  perceive  the  wonderful 
power  attained  in  this  highly  organized  structure; 
and  the  more  minutely  it  is  analyzed,  the  more  per- 
fect seems  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  as  we 
from  time  to  time  attain  a  true  knowledge  of  them, 
xxi 


Kutrolrurtfou 

It  is  now  clearly  understood  that,  prior  to  any  his- 
toric record  yet  discovered,  men  were  organized  into 
communities  and  nations,  with  governments  and 
laws  restricting  them  to  certain  courses  of  action, 
deemed  to  be  proper  and  correct,  and  that  there 
were  punishments  enacted  for  a  dereliction  from 
established  law;  right  and  wrong  were  determined, 
not  always,  as  we  now  think,  equitably,  but  the  belief 
was  established.  Under  these  advancing  forms  of 
civilization  great  cities  and  elaborate  temples  were 
built,  and  structures  and  implements  of  defence  and 
aggression  were  devised,  as  the  interests  of  different 
nations  became  antagonistic.  The  beauty  and  gran- 
deur of  their  structures  evince  a  cultivation  and  luxu- 
rious display  marvellous  to  behold  in  these  latter 
days.  While  much  of  the  outward  and  apparent 
was  appreciated  and  understood,  the  fundamental 
principles  and  sources  of  the  visible  universe  were 
unknown,  but  as  the  nature  of  men's  mental  powers 
would  not  rest  with  unexplained  phenomena,  they 
actively  sought  for  a  solution  in  their  imagination; 
the  bolder  and  more  active  formed  systems,  that 
were  seized  upon  and  elaborated  from  age  to  age  by 
credulous  followers  in  their  efforts  to  obtain  an  ex- 
planation of  the  unknown. 

The  organization  of  communities  and  nations  pro- 
xxii 


Eutroiructfon 

duced,  through  the  inequality  of  individuals,  rulers 
who  could  dispense  favors,  and  punish  or  reward 
as  their  will  dictated.  With  this  experience  before 
them  men  formulated  their  conceptions  of  a  power 
or  powers  that  created  and  governed  the  world  they 
lived  in. 

As  they  knew  from  experience  that  they  could 
obtain  favors  from  their  rulers  by  subserviency  and 
by  the  bestowal  of  gifts  upon  them,  they  had  no 
doubt  of  their  efficacy  with  their  supernatural  rulers ; 
and  the  more  costly  and  elaborate  the  tribute,  the 
more  acceptable  would  it  be  to  the  gods  to  whom  it 
was  given.  Thus  was  established  an  adulation  and 
worship,  with  the  building  of  temples,  and  offering 
of  gifts  and  sacrifice  to  propitiate  the  divine  powers, 
that  could  in  no  other  way  be  reached.  This  uni- 
versal belief  in  an  endless  variety  of  forms  comes 
from  an  undeviating  source,  the  natural  phenomena 
with  which  we  are  surrounded  misinterpreted  and 
misunderstood.  From  time  to  time,  as  tradition  in- 
forms us,  there  have  been  men  with  transcendent 
intellects,  that  have  caught  glimpses  of  the  true  cos- 
mos and  have  based  theories  thereon ;  but  they  were 
imperfect  and  uncertain,  although  often  containing 
pertinent  truths.  The  commencement  of  true  knowl- 
edge, imperfect  though  it  still  is,  began  within  the 
xxiii 


Sutvotmcttou 

recent  centuries.  If  we  consider  antiquity  and  uni- 
versal belief  a  criterion  of  truth,  there  are  over- 
whelming descriptions  of  supernatural  communica- 
tion between  a  spirit  world  and  man;  but  if  a  just 
perception  of  the  elements  from  which  the  legends 
that  chronicle  the  exhibition  of  the  miraculous  are 
obtained,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  all  emanate  from 
a  mistaken  interpretation  of  cause  and  effect. 

It  is  conceded  that  the  Hindus  were  an  exceed- 
ingly intellectual  and  profoundly  metaphysical  peo- 
ple, and  elaborated  a  religion  so  transcendental  as 
to  be  beyond  the  scope  of  modern  thinkers.  They 
had  in  their  mythology  numerous  deities  of  varied 
powers  that  to  the  modern  thinker  are  but  the  vis- 
ions of  the  meditative  Brahman;  no  one  in  Europe 
or  America  believes  in  the  divinity  of  Brahma  or 
Vishnu.  So  of  the  Egyptian  cult,  the  concentration 
of  the  intellect  of  a  highly  intelligent  and  cultivated 
nation,  with  an  elaborate  theology,  by  whom,  like 
the  Hindus,  stupendous  and  costly  temples  were 
built,  more  enduring  than  their  religion,  of  which, 
or  their  theomancy,  there  are  now  no  believers. 
Again  the  highly  cultivated  Greek,  and  the  world- 
conquering  Roman,  —  their  systems  of  religion  were 
in  a  high  degree  elaborate,  ideal,  and  refined,  the 
keynote  being  justice,  honor,  probity,  and  especially 
xxiv 


Kutvottuctfon 

truth.  The  philosophers  of  Greece  are  quoted  to- 
day for  their  profound  thoughts,  —  yet  who  believes 
in  their  theology,  or  their  graphic  and  poetical  leg- 
ends of  the  gods  ?  From  almost  all  the  ancient  re- 
ligions we  learn  there  was  one  transcendent  god 
with  subordinate  gods  for  the  multiplicity  of  human 
attributes  and  wants;  later  these  minor  gods  were 
eliminated,  and  in  their  places  angels  and  spirits 
have  been  substituted,  while  in  one  of  the  modern 
religions  three  gods  have  been  by  some  theological 
legerdemain  resolved  into  one.  We  thus  see  that 
there  is  no  innate  attribute  of  worship  in  man,  but 
simply  an  attempt  to  personify  a  cause  beyond  his 
knowledge,  and  invest  it  with  the  very  human  love 
of  adulation  experience  has  shown  to  be  character- 
istic of  man's  earthly  rulers. 

There  is  a  singular  predilection  in  man,  apparent 
to  the  careful  investigator,  to  run  in,  and  adhere  to, 
grooves  of  thought,  with  a  persistent  ignoring  of  all 
adverse  facts.  This  trait  is  intensified  by  early  ed- 
ucation, and  is  apparent  in  the  persistent  adherence 
to  the  religion  in  which  the  individual  has  been 
trained.  If  he  was  born  of  Hindu  parents  he  will 
be  a  believer  in  Brahma.  If  his  parents  were  Jews, 
or  Mohammedans,  his  belief  will  be  fixed  in  their 
faith,  while  if  the  belief  of  his  compeers  is  Christian, 

XXV 


Xutro&ttctfon 

he  will  adhere  tenaciously  to  that  faith.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  advancement  of  the  world,  some 
men  are  endowed  with  an  unconquerable  spirit  of 
investigation  that  bursts  the  bonds  of  theological 
prohibition,  and  in  the  face  of  torture  and  death  pro- 
claim the  tenets  they  believe  founded  in  fact.  As 
the  world  grows  wiser,  the  barriers  against  knowl- 
edge are  reduced,  which  by  the  Jewish  legend  was 
the  unpardonable  sin  that  all  mankind  were  cursed 
for,  until  at  the  present  time  it  is  not  generally  penal 
among  the  most  enlightened  nations  to  declare  any 
proposition  that  the  propounder  believes.  No 
greater  proof  can  be  adduced  to  show  the  utter  un- 
reliability of  the  ancient  legends  relating  abnormal 
supernatural  and  miraculous  events,  than  the  readi- 
ness of  men  and  women  of  recent  times,  up  to  the 
present  day,  to  follow  after  and  believe  in  charlatans 
and  impostors  of  questionable  character  and  stupid 
pretence,  under  the  guise  of  divine  inspiration  and 
plenary  revelation.  Men  are  so  anxious  to  hear  from 
the  other  world  they  have  been  taught  to  believe  in, 
that  they  will  run  after  and  follow  any  pretended 
messenger  that  assumes  to  bring  tidings  therefrom, 
the  truth  of  which  these  impostors  know  their  credu- 
lous neophytes  have  no  power  to  refute.  It  is  sad  to 
note  that  the  fundamental  belief  of  all  the  various 
xxvi 


Xttttrolwctfon 

sectarists  of  the  Christian  Church,  dominating  the 
highest  civilization,  furnishes  the  most  potent  argu- 
ment to  sustain  the  pretenders  to  supernatural  rev- 
elation ;  for  it  is  clear  that  if  any  supernatural  revela- 
tion, plenary  inspiration,  or  other  miraculous  event 
or  communication  was  ever  vouchsafed  to  man  there 
can  be  no  denial  that  such  an  event  is  not  only  pos- 
sible, but  very  probable,  in  a  cultivated  age  more 
capable  of  appreciating  it  than  in  former  times.  One 
of  the  strongest  reasons  for  doubting  the  truthful- 
ness of  all  historic  relations  of  supernatural  events 
or  revelations  is  their  utterly  improvable  existence 
in  modern  times,  notwithstanding  the  positive  as- 
sertion of  innumerable  witnesses  that  are  willing  to 
testify,  and  in  some  cases  may  believe  in  miraculous 
events  now  taking  place. 


XXVll 


Contents 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

L  EARLY  RELIGIONS 31 

II.  THE  GOD  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT        .  56 

III.  CHRIST'S  ADVENT  AND  MISSION      .        .  98 

IV.  CHRIST'S  CHARACTER  AND  PARABLES     .  122 
V.  CHRIST'S  MIRACLES  AND  RESURRECTION  .  132 

VI.  THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT         .        .  144 
VII.  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION  —JOHN'S  GOS- 
PEL           151 

VIII.  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINE  AND  RULE     .        .172 

IX.  THE  CHRISTIAN  DOGMAS.        .        .        .196 

X.  CHRISTIANITY  COMPARED         .        .        .  209 

XI.  "REVELATIONS" 223 

XII.  MIRACLES 230 

XIII.  OUR  PRESENT  KNOWLEDGE      .        .        .  240 

XIV.  OUR  PRESENT  STATUS      .        .                .  247 

XV.  RECAPITULATION 254 

XVI.  THE  GENESIS  OF  CHRISTIANITY       .        .  267 

XVII.  THE  STATUS  OF  HUMAN  ATTAINMENT    .  278 

XVIII.  MAN'S  PRESENT  STATUS  .        .        .        .287 

APPENDIX 295 


The  Origin  of 
Supernatural  Conceptions 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY  RELIGIONS 

WHEN  prehistoric  man  emerges  from  the  nebulous 
epoch  and  first  appears  in  tangible  form  to  the  mod- 
ern investigator,  he  is  found  surrounded  by  works 
of  elaborate  art,  in  some  particulars  transcending 
all  the  works  of  his  successors  in  magnitude  and 
accomplishment.  This  shows  a  state  of  high  cul- 
tivation, that  must  have  required  untold  ages  to 
have  perfected.  In  critically  examining  these  po- 
tent remains  of  early  attainments,  aided  by  the  re- 
corded thought  of  primitive  culture,  we  note  an 
elaborate  perception  and  investigation  of  nature 
with  which  the  world  teemed. 

Modern  investigation  shows  that  there  were  upon 
the  earth  hundreds  of  centuries  ago  monsters  of  pro- 
digious size  and  hideous  mien,  many  of  which  have 
been  recently  unearthed.  While  some  of  these  prod- 

31 


of 


igies  may  not  have  survived  the  advent  of  man,  he, 
no  doubt,  gained  his  vivid  pictures  of  the  horrible 
and  awful  from  the  realities  he  saw  in  nature.  The 
dragons  and  other  apparent  prodigies  drawn  by 
Eastern  nations  were  but  exaggerations  pictured 
by  imaginative  minds  excited  by  the  marvels  exist- 
ent at  the  dawn  of  man's  ingress,  which  may  have 
disappeared  since  that  time. 

Ages  prior  to  any  record  that  we  have  of  men  con- 
gregated into  communities  they  were  governed  by 
matured  laws,  and  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  of  good 
and  evil,  with  a  subserviency  to  ruling  powers. 
Their  laws  were  at  that  early  period  united  with 
elaborate  religious  dogmas,  upon  which  authority 
was  founded  ;  thus,  the  free  thought  of  man  had  be- 
gun to  be  subordinated  to  creeds  and  traditions  that 
have  shackled  and  curtailed  man's  progress  through- 
out historic  time. 

In  searching  for  the  origin  of  the  innumerable  re- 
ligious beliefs  of  the  world,  which  ages  have  formu- 
lated and  consolidated  into  habits,  and  modes  of 
thought,  that  have  crystallized  into  the  usages  of 
advancing  civilization  with  cultured  people,  an  in- 
vestigator should  be  sure  that  an  antagonism  to 
existing  creeds  is  based  on  an  honest  and  sincere 
desire  to  attain  a  higher  civilization,  and  sounder 

32 


Supernatural 


moral  culture,  than  the  present  status  affords. 
While  sweeping  away  fictitious  cults,  believed  in 
for  ages,  he  should  have  in  mind  the  attainment 
of  the  highest  standard  in  morals,  and  the  greatest 
happiness  of  all  his  fellow  men.  When  a  man 
attempts  to  change  the  current  of  thought  and 
belief  of  the  world  he  is  surrounded  by,  with  all 
its  vested  rights  and  interests  at  stake,  which  to- 
day form  most  potent  factors  in  modern  society, 
the  task  is  of  Herculean  proportions.  But  the  truth 
is  cogent,  above  all  other  interests  or  assumed 
rights,  however  ancient  or  consolidated,  built  upon 
fictitious  foundations. 

In  looking  backward  through  the  maze  of  primi- 
tive thought  for  a  rational  clue  to  the  earlier  stages 
in  the  evolution  of  man's  mental  efforts,  beyond  the 
limits  of  scientific  proof,  it  may  be  permissible 
to  extend  our  theories  into  the  unknown,  if  we  are 
guided  by  logical  deductions  from  the  storehouse 
of  accumulated  facts,  that  are  attested  by  a  strictly 
scientific  investigation  of  known  phenomena  — 
with  the  distinct  understanding,  however,  that 
every  assumption  may  be  controverted  by  a  better 
theory,  if  it  can  be  adduced. 

It  would  seem  from  the  generally  received  laws 
of  evolution,  that  when  the  mental  powers  of  man 

33 


of 


had  developed  into  thoughts  and  observations  of, 
and  deductions  from,  his  surroundings,  he  would 
realize  the  fact  that  the  numerous  natural  objects 
of  his  cognizance  were  there  by  no  cause  within 
his  knowledge;  from  them  he  received  his  food 
and,  as  he  progressed,  his  shelter;  they  were  avail- 
able to  supply  his  wants.  Could  the  intellect  of 
man  as  now  recognized  long  remain  satisfied  with 
a  passive  reception  of  those  goods  —  when  by  their 
failures  he  suffered  —  without  striving  to  find  out, 
or  account  for,  their  origin  and  source?  The  low- 
est mental  effort  would  suggest  there  was  a  power 
beyond  his  cognition. 

If  this  interpretation  of  the  earliest  denouement 
of  the  active  brain  of  developed  man  is  correct, 
no  abnormal  power  is  manifested  in  the  poetical 
legends,  and  historical  aberrations  evolved  by  the 
imagination  inherent  in  the  human  mind  from  a 
misconception  or  distortion  of  facts. 

In  early  childhood  we  have  examples  of  the  con- 
structive power  of  the  imagination,  and  brave  tales 
are  evolved  from  fertile  sources  of  child  lore,  of 
which  nursery  rhymes  are  but  an  adulterated  echo. 
The  primitive  man  had  all  the  imagination  of 
childhood,  with  maturer  mind,  unrestricted  by 
modern  culture. 

34 


Supernatural  <£cmcq)ttang 

As  various  objects  appeared  spontaneously,  with- 
out man's  effort,  it  was  obviously  natural  for  him 
to  assume  a  being  existed  that  produced  them; 
and  as  it  was  natural  for  him  to  assume  that  they 
were  created  for  his  good,  it  seems  to  be  indisputa- 
able  that  he  would  seek  to  propitiate  the  unknown 
power  that  made  them.  As  these  objects  were 
so  various  and  distinct  one  from  another,  and  as 
his  enemies  were  supplied  with  them  as  well  as 
himself,  it  would  seem  impossible  for  him  to  be- 
lieve they  were  all  produced  by  the  same  Deity; 
therefore,  his  imagination  readily  supplied  a  host 
sufficient  for  the  purpose.  Hence  we  find  in  the 
earliest  records  the  notable  phenomena  of  nature 
personified  and  deified. 

In  the  earliest  Hindu  Vedas  we  can  trace  the 
sublime  conceptions  of  nature,  causing,  govern- 
ing, and  directing  the  objects  provided,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  seemingly  ungoverned  will  in  the  author 
that  appeared  capricious  and  anomalous.  Thus 
were  noted  devastating  winds,  storms,  thunders, 
earthquakes,  volcanoes;  to  terrify  man  for  his 
assumed  transgressions;  sometimes  to  avenge  him 
against  his  enemies;  and  as  menaces  against  the 
human  race  for  its  derelictions.  Such  were  the 
aspects  of  nature  to  primitive  man,  sublime  and 

35 


of 


beneficent,  or  terrific  and  vengeful;  personified 
by  fatherly  care  and  paternal  love,  or  stern  and 
unrelenting  punishment,  to  suit  the  varying  moods 
of  the  gods. 

By  the  every-day  experiences  of  life  man  was 
confirmed  in  the  belief  of  an  extraneous  power 
that  produced  the  varied  results  so  constantly  wit- 
nessed by  him.  This  caused  him  to  ponder  and 
construct,  in  his  imagination,  ideal  gods,  of  a  nature 
and  with  attributes  analogous  to  the  human  race. 

As  man's  gregarious  experience  taught  him  to 
propitiate  the  most  powerful  —  a  trait  common 
with  all  gregarious  animals  —  he  strove  to  placate 
the  unseen  deity  he  could  not  cope  with,  which  his 
imagination  had  wrought  into  innumerable  forms, 
with  attributes  still  more  innumerable;  while  na- 
ture's laws,  acquired  either  by  experience  or  innate 
mental  reasoning,  caused  him  to  organize  a  world 
of  spirits  dominated  by  a  supreme  head,  or  God,  — 
a  belief  that  has  assumed  control  over  the  thoughts 
and  convictions  of  mankind  in  an  endless  variety 
of  forms,  in  striving  to  delineate  the  unknowable, 
up  to  the  present  day,  and  which  is  as  firmly  ad- 
hered to  now  as  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  historic 
time,  with  the  assumed  authority  of  supernatural 
revelation. 

36 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

Thus  at  the  dawn  of  human  association  the 
organized  communities,  as  appears  from  the  ear- 
liest records  now  extant,  were  striving  for  the  un- 
known origin  of  themselves  and  their  surroundings 
which  caused  them  to  build  up  vague  theories  of 
antecedent  powers  that  brought  forth  the  various 
objects  with  which  they  were  associated,  —  things 
not  made  by  any  power  known  to  them.  Thus 
gods  were  elaborated  with  characteristics  in  accord- 
ance with  human  experience,  observation,  and  im- 
aginings, formed  by  the  untutored  minds  of  the 
authors,  with  attributes  to  suit  the  multiplex  phe- 
nomena noted. 

The  earliest  records  of  human  thought  describe 
the  origin  of  man,  whose  mind  not  being  controlled 
by  laws  or  facts,  wandered  ad  libitum  without  re- 
straint. Thus  was  conceived  a  spirit  world,  whose 
habitat  was  above  the  immovable  world  we  inhabit, 
devoted  to  the  gods  who  made  them.  These  gods 
being  invisible  were  described  and  represented 
with  minuteness.  None  of  the  legends  or  sacred 
writings  that  are  claimed  to  be  revelations,  which 
give  a  history  of  the  origin  of  the  world  and  its  in- 
habitants, with  the  heavens  located  above  the  ' c  fir- 
mament," agree  with  the  known  facts  of  nature; 
which  proves  that  those  assumed  revelations  were 

37 


of 


mere  human  inventions,  by  authors  ignorant  of 
the  cosmos  now  undisputed. 

In  tracing  the  course  of  progressive  thinking, 
from  the  dawn  of  nebulous  history  to  the  present 
time,  the  earliest  recorded  conceptions  show  a 
belief  in  the  existence  of  a  superior  power  by  whom 
mankind  was  dominated,  and  rewarded  as  ac- 
corded with  its  supreme  ungoverned  will,  or  pun- 
ished, if  not  averted  by  the  prayers  and  supplica- 
tions of  its  worshippers,  who  could  thus  modify 
its  purpose. 

At  first  the  god  seems  to  have  been  limited  to 
the  individual  or  the  family,  originating  the  fetishes, 
which  were  not  the  gods  of  other  people.  Subse- 
quently clannishness  elevated  the  tribal  deity  above 
those  of  other  tribes,  which  was  a  fruitful  source 
of  many  wars  and  much  strife  between  contending 
nations,  waged  to  determine  their  assumptive  claims 
to  territory  and  power.  Finally  the  multiplicity 
of  gods  came  to  be  a  source  of  sublime  incentive 
and  art  motive,  with  a  ruling  godhead  over  all, 
in  accordance  with  established  human  institutions. 

Thus  was  the  household  god  of  primitive  man 
expanded  by  his  creative  imagination  into  complex 
mythologies,  that  gradually  culminated  in  a  su- 
preme creator.  Such  was,  apparently,  the  evo- 

38 


Supernatural  eraneejmons 

lutionary  source  and  development  of  human  im- 
pulse to  worship. 

The  pertinent  saying  that  ' '  an  honest  God  would 
be  the  noblest  work  of  man"  has  never  been  ac- 
complished; all  the  gods  yet  portrayed  are  mani- 
festly the  imperfect  conceptions  of  man;  they  are 
simply  the  embodiment  of  the  highest  compre- 
hension of  the  age  in  which  they  were  delineated. 
The  constant  endeavor  of  man  has  been  to  formu- 
late and  materialize  an  originator  of  the  world  and 
its  concomitants,  who  was  the  author  of  his  being. 

The  multitudinous  nations  that  peopled  the 
Eastern  world  were  fruitful  in  creating  systems  of 
belief  in  gods  and  religious  creeds,  derived  gen- 
erally as  we  have  said  from  natural  objects,  and 
the  observation  of  inherent  phenomena,  more  or 
less  etherealized,  but  all  resting  on  the  assumption 
that  the  earth  was  the  stable  centre  of  the  visible 
universe. 

The  records  we  now  have  of  the  earliest  thought 
are  probably  the  Hindu  Vedas.  They  are  a  re- 
fined spiritual  sentimentality,  not  exceeded  in  after- 
time.  Their  aim  was  to  teach  men  to  live  a  pure 
and  blameless  life,  and  by  austerity  and  self-denial 
to  attain  perfect  happiness  hereafter.  A  God, 
the  creator  of  all  things,  was  formulated,  who  as- 

39 


of 


sumed  various  incarnations,  and  there  were  other 
divinities  who  enacted  innumerable  spiritualistic 
parts,  in  aid  or  punishment  of  humanity.  The 
civilization  in  which  this  religion  culminated  was 
dominated  by  a  priesthood,  who  taught  its  superi- 
ority over  all  others,  and  inaugurated  the  doctrine 
of  castes  with  which  Hindustan  is  cursed  to  the 
present  day.  This  religion  predominated  India, 
whose  wonderful  temples  —  the  remains  of  which 
are  still  standing  —  dwarf  all  modern  religious 
structures,  and  even  now  display  a  grandeur  unap- 
proached  in  modern  times.  The  temples  through- 
out India  are  as  numerous  as  their  religious  dog- 
mas, the  metaphysical  character  of  which  we  do 
not  propose  to  discuss.  Many  of  their  legends 
have  been  plagiarized  and  adopted  with  modifica- 
tions by  subsequent  religions  down  to  the  present 
day,  together  with  their  moral  teachings. 

Succeeding  the  teachings  of  the  Vedas  came  the 
doctrine  of  Buddha,  abolishing  the  castes,  and  in 
many  other  ways  improving  the  religion  of  his 
followers.  Buddha  taught  an  equality  of  the  hu- 
man race,  and  controverted  many  objectionable 
features  of  Brahmanism;  he  taught  self-abnega- 
tion, a  pure  life,  and  self-immolation,  with  an  un- 
natural abstention  from  all  natural  impulses,  much 

40 


(gonctjitfong 


of  which  has  been  practised  by  other  religious  dev- 
otees in  after-times. 

The  Egyptian  mythology  was  developed  into  a 
highly  supernatural  and  metaphysical  religion; 
evolving  a  strict  moral  code,  that  exalted  good- 
ness and  purity  in  this  life  —  a  record  being  kept 
of  each  individual,  to  be  brought  forth  at  the  judg- 
ment of  the  deceased,  to  determine  his  future  re- 
ward or  punishment. 

The  i25th  chapter  of  the  "Book  of  the  Dead" 
contains  the  oldest  code  of  private  and  public  mo- 
rality. The  catalogue  of  forty-two  sins  for  which 
punishment  is  prescribed  furnishes  an  example 
of  moral  discrimination  and  high  purpose  quite  as 
cogent  as  is  found  in  any  subsequent  religions. 

It  is  understood  by  eminent  scholars  that  the 
Egyptian  religion  is  monotheistic,  and  that  the 
multiplicity  of  gods  is  only  due  to  the  personifica- 
tion of  his  attributes  and  offices.  M.  Emmanuel 
Rouge,  a  profound  Egyptologist,  says:  "No  one 
has  called  in  question  the  fundamental  meaning 
of  the  principal  passages  by  the  help  of  which  we 
are  able  to  establish  what  ancient  Egypt  has  taught 
concerning  God,  the  world,  and  man.  I  said  God, 
not  Gods,  is  the  Unity  most  energetically  expressed  ; 
God,  One,  Sole  and  Only;  no  others  with  him  — 

41 


<Drt0tu  of 

he  is  the  only  being  —  living  in  truth  —  thou  art 
One  and  millions  of  beings  proceed  from  thee  — 
he  has  made  everything,  and  he  alone  has  not  been 
made."  "The  clearest,  the  simplest,  the  most 
precise  conception."  He  adds:  "How  reconcile 
the  unity  of  God  with  the  Egyptian  polytheism. 
History  and  geography  will  perhaps  elucidate  the 
matter.  The  Egyptian  religion  comprehends  a 
quantity  of  local  worships.  The  Egypt  which 
Menes  brought  together  under  his  sceptre  was 
divided  into  nomes,  each  having  a  capital  town; 
each  of  these  regimes  had  its  principal  god  desig- 
nated by  a  special  name,  but  always  the  same  doc- 
trine which  reappears  under  a  different  name. 
One  idea  predominates,  that  of  a  single  primeval 
God.  Everywhere  and  always  it  is  one  substance, 
self- existent,  and  an  unapproachable  God." 

The  drawings,  inscriptions,  and  papyrus  manu- 
scripts of  Egypt,  brought  to  light  in  recent  years 
by  modern  investigation,  display  deep  research 
of  the  human  mind  in  its  inquest  for  truth,  joined 
to  a  priestly  desire  for  controlling  the  people,  which 
all  history  shows  to  be  intuitive. 

The  casual  instances  of  abnormal  intellect,  as 
well  as  any  other  characteristics  that  have  aston- 
ished the  world  from  time  to  time  by  a  display  of 

42 


Supernatural 

profound  knowledge  and  wisdom  which  seemed 
superhuman ;  the  creation  of  the  demigods,  prophets, 
and  giants,  exaggerated  by  tradition  and  imagina- 
tion to  account  for  the  unknown,  plunged  in  the 
oblivion  of  antiquity  were  fruitful  agents;  the  out- 
come of  this  resulted  in  the  mythologies  that  have 
been  developed  in  every  aggregation  of  men,  how- 
ever barbarous,  antique,  or  anomalous  their  leg- 
ends. 

The  Greek  and  Roman  mythologies,  in  their  ef- 
fort to  create  a  higher  mental  elevation,  elaborated 
complex  and  poetical  systems  that  raised  high  art 
and  poetry  to  an  excellence  hardly  yet  attained 
in  later  times.  The  Greek  sages  reasoned  with 
profound  sagacity  on  physical  truths  and  mental 
culture,  with  a  keen  perception  almost  prophetic. 
Pythagoras,  some  six  hundred  years  before  our 
era,  declared  God  to  be  "  neither  the  object  of 
sense,  nor  subject  to  passion;  invincible,  who  is 
not,  as  some  are  apt  to  imagine,  seated  above  the 
world,  but  being  himself  all  in  all,  he  sees  all  beings 
that  fill  his  immensity."  Such  was  the  advanced 
teaching  of  Pythagoras,  who  inculcated  a  daily 
investigation  of  our  life  and  actions  as  a  source  of 
improvement,  which  equals  the  sublimest  teaching 
of  the  foremost  moralists. 

43 


of 

Confucius,  some  six  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
announced  the  aphorism,  "Do  unto  another  that 
you  would  he  should  do  unto  you ;  and  do  not  unto 
another  what  you  would  not  should  be  done  unto 
you;  this  is  the  foundation  and  principle  of  all 
laws." 

There  are  many  ancient  maxims  showing  a  like 
high  attainment  in  morals  set  forth  in  the  earliest 
records,  the  fruits  of  man's  mental  processes,  that 
have  not  been  excelled  by  any  subsequent  teach- 
ings. They  show  the  spontaneous  outcome  of 
mind  with  its  surroundings,  aided  by  observation, 
contemplation,  and  experience.  To  enhance  the 
authority  of  these  sayings  they  were  sometimes 
attributed  to  divine  revelation,  while  they  were 
often  commingled  with  egoistic  impulses  and  su- 
perstitions, coupled  with  an  intolerant  desire  to 
extirpate  adverse  views  in  others,  which  led  to 
barbarous  acts  such  as  no  other  cause  ever  produced, 
and  from  which  men  are  now  only  partly  freed 
through  the  heroic  warfare  of  modern  science, 
unaided  by  religion,  which  has  burst  the  shackles 
of  restraining  theology  and  antagonizing  dogma. 

The  world  has  teemed  from  earliest  times  with 
divers  religions,  each  one  asserting  its  claim  to  a 
divine  revelation,  with  miracles  and  divine  com- 

44 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

mands  as  its  origin.  Most  of  these  religions  are 
subdivided  into  numerous  sects,  often  differing 
widely,  and  as  bitterly  opposed  to  each  other  as 
to  antagonistic  religions.  From  earliest  times 
creeds  have  been  the  cause  of  contention  and  bloody 
wars  between  rival  sects,  with  virulent  anathemas 
and  persecutions  for  deviations  from  the  current 
belief  which  have  not  been  exceeded,  if  they  have 
been  equalled,  by  any  other  incentive  in  the  world's 
history. 

It  is  apparent  there  is  no  undisputed  infallible 
proof  of  the  truth  of  any  religion;  they  are  all  de- 
veloped from  legends  more  or  less  fabulous,  or  of 
events  assumed  to  be  of  supernatural  origin,  in 
which  the  marvellous  phenomena  described  an- 
tagonize all  the  natural  laws  of  the  universe  that 
are  now  clearly  established  by  the  research  of 
modern  science. 

There  is  no  axiom  truer,  than  that  every  aver- 
ment claiming  to  be  a  divine  revelation,  or  the 
word  of  God,  must  be  in  accordance  with  and  in 
no  particular  contravene  the  immutable  laws  of 
nature,  or  the  invariable  course  of  the  universe, 
of  which  the  ancients  were  entirely  ignorant,  but 
which  are  now  within  the  knowledge  of  every  school- 
boy. Has  there  ever  been  a  religion  promulgated 

45 


of 


that  can  survive  that  test?  Is  there  not  ample 
evidence  that  the  originators  of  all  existing  relig- 
ions, as  well  as  those  they  have  superseded,  were 
totally  ignorant  of  the  cosmology  developed  by 
modern  investigation? 

A  search  into  ancient  traditions  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  the  mental  culture  of  their  authors 
is  interesting  and  instructive;  but  to  adopt  their 
legends  as  facts  would  be  credulous,  while  to  give 
their  records  of  miraculous  events  an  authorita- 
tive meaning,  in  the  light  of  present  knowledge, 
is  mendacious.  Modern  theologians  promulgate 
ancient  religious  dogmas  and  creeds  with  the  as- 
sumption that  they  were  derived  from  a  super- 
natural source  (as  if  the  ancients  had  some  foun- 
tain containing  a  knowledge,  of  which  the  later 
and  better  informed  ages  are  deprived),  and  that 
these  teachings  by  divine  revelation  transcend 
modern  science,  and  have  achieved  for  man  what 
science  is  unable  to  do,  proposing  to  impart  to  him 
an  assurance  of  future  existence,  while  they  are 
shown  to  be  totally  ignorant  of  the  status  of  the 
present  one;  yet  men  still  cling  to  the  conception 
of  a  future  life,  based  on  some  crude  and  notably 
erroneous  narratives  on  which  to  rest  their  faith, 
regardless  of  ascertained  fact. 

46 


.Sujirvnatural 


The  investigation  of  ancient  legends  displaying 
human  thought,  by  which  we  can  trace  man's  slow 
progress  toward  true  knowledge  (the  light  of  which 
is  just  beginning  to  dawn  on  us),  is  intensely  inter- 
esting; but  to  receive  such  a  record  as  a  divine 
revelation  is  fallacious.  Every  fact,  and  every 
legend,  from  whatever  source  it  comes,  should  be 
analyzed  by  the  light  of  present  knowledge. 

Many  systems  of  obsolete  belief  have  left  won- 
derful monuments  of  massive  grandeur  that  dis- 
play the  earnest  faith  of  their  devotees  in  the  deity 
and  religion  they  were  built  to  perpetuate;  they 
far  exceed  in  magnitude,  grandeur,  and  magnifi- 
cence all  the  efforts  of  modern  times. 

At  Ellora,  in  Central  India,  is  located  a  mar- 
vellous group  of  grotto  temples  that  well  illustrate 
the  intense  religious  ardor  of  their  originators. 
These  excavations  are  hewn  in  a  chain  of  moun- 
tains within  a  circuit  of  six  miles.  There  are  many 
large  temples  with  occasional  smaller  ones  between 
them,  all  hewn  from  the  solid  rock,  a  hard  red 
granite,  with  primitive  tools  and  the  patient  labor 
of  that  early  time.  The  largest  of  these  structures 
is  called  Kailasa  (Siva's  Paradise).  It  is  a  hun- 
dred feet  high  and  142  feet  long.  On  each  side 
of  the  colonnades  at  the  entrance  are  large  sphinxes. 

47 


of 


A  row  of  enormous  elephants  seems  to  sustain  the 
superimposed  rock  and  produces  an  awe-inspir- 
ing effect.  The  extent  and  number  of  these  exca- 
vated works  can  hardly  be  imagined,  —  entire 
pyramidal  temples  standing  in  open  courts,  peri- 
styles, staircases,  bridges,  chapels,  porticoes,  obe- 
lisks, columns,  tanks,  and  a  great  number  of  co- 
lossal statues  ten  and  twelve  feet  high.  At  the 
sides  of  the  temples  there  are  chambers,  appar- 
ently for  the  priests,  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock,  en- 
closures surrounded  by  columns  sustain  three  gal- 
leries, one  above  another. 

There  are  an  immense  number  of  small  grottoes 
seemingly  intended  to  accommodate  thousands  of 
pilgrims.  On  some  of  the  walls  are  Sanscrit  in- 
scriptions, and  all  the  surfaces,  including  the  col- 
umns, are  covered  with  sculptures,  some  of  which 
are  painted  in  bright  colors  still  visible.  Travel- 
lers declare  "the  variety,  richness,  and  skill  dis- 
played in  these  ornaments  surpass  all  description." 
Erskine  says  "the  first  view  of  this  desolate  relig- 
ious city  is  grand  and  striking,  but  melancholy. 
The  number  and  magnificence  of  the  subterra- 
nean temples,  the  extent  and  loftiness  of  some,  the 
endlessness  and  diversity  of  sculpture  in  others, 
the  variety  of  curious  foliage,  of  minute  tracery, 


Supernatural  (Zanrtpttons 

highly  wrought  pillars,  rich  mythological  designs, 
sacred  shrines,  and  colossal  statues  astonish  and 
distract  the  mind.  The  empire  whose  pride  they 
must  have  been  has  passed  away,  and  left  no  other 
memorial  behind  it."  This  shows  that  advancing 
knowledge  begins  to  realize  the  folly  of  attempting 
to  perpetuate  any  dogmatic  religion,  which  must 
be  temporary  and  fugacious,  by  colossal  struc- 
tures. In  this  particular  the  world  will  grow  wiser, 
notwithstanding  the  fanatical  fervor  of  the  mod- 
ern idolaters  who  would  again  curse  the  world  with 
theological  rule. 

Ponderous  temples  representing  bygone  relig- 
ions are  of  less  account  than  formerly;  they  are 
not  needed  for  imposing  primitive  worship,  with 
its  majestic  processions  and  mystic  rites,  that  have 
lost  their  significance  with  people  more  advanced, 
who  cannot  be  so  easily  duped  by  pompous  cere- 
mony. 

The  intellectual  world  now  generally  under- 
stands that  in  the  order  of  creation  there  has  been 
a  slow  but  constant  development  in  organized  life, 
from  protoplasm  to  man;  and  pari  passu  with  the 
advancement  of  structure  there  has  been  a  pro- 
gression of  intelligence.  This  advancement  can 
be  traced  from  the  most  feeble  indication  of  respon- 

49 


<Drf0fn  of 


sive  sensation  up  to  the  ever  varying  and  con- 
stantly increasing  perfection  of  denned  and  cor- 
rect thought  attained  by  man.  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  this  advancement  follows  the  acquisition  of 
a  knowledge  of  undeviating  natural  laws,  which 
produces  a  more  perfect  development  of  thought 
as  structural  perfection  increases. 

While  the  progress  of  mental  expansion  is  thus 
traceable,  no  cataclysm  is  found  in  its  history; 
no  period  is  found  in  which  any  race  or  people 
has  been  suddenly  advanced  from  barbarism,  or 
a  low  degree  of  civilization,  to  a  high  perception 
of  right  and  wrong,  by  a  new  religion.  In  the  in- 
tercourse of  man  with  his  fellow  man,  no  abrupt 
development  has  been  achieved  in  consequence 
of  belief  in  any  religion  or  dogma  taught  by  a  su- 
pernatural guide.  When  any  rapid  change  in  re- 
ligion has  been  effected,  it  has  been  done  by  coer- 
cion, or  an  unreasoning  faith  that  shows  a  singular 
tendency  in  the  human  mind  to  follow  the  pre- 
tended seers  of  the  unknowable.  The  neophytes 
have  rarely  improved  their  morals  with  their  ac- 
ceptance of  a  creed;  all  real  advancement  is  a 
slow  process  of  the  reasoning  powers,  almost  im- 
perceptible, requiring  mental  effort  and  education. 

New  truths  are  received  by  mankind  with  re- 

5° 


luctance,  which  arises  from  a  pertinacity  engendered 
by  early  training,  that  often  takes  centuries  to  re- 
move after  the  facts  have  been  proved  by  scientific 
investigation;  while  a  new  religion,  however  fan- 
tastic, that  claims  to  be  of  spiritual  and  supernat- 
ural origin,  which  treats  of  an  unknown  world, 
with  divine  promises  of  a  happy  future  life,  is  fol- 
lowed with  eager  belief  by  unreasoning  multitudes. 

This  predisposition  to  superstition,  religious  and 
political  leaders  avail  themselves  of,  by  confirm- 
ing the  doubting,  and  exalting  the  mystical.  Either 
from  a  fear  of  disturbing  the  present  order  of  so- 
ciety, to  the  detriment  of  vested  interests  and  leg- 
islative enactments,  or  for  venal  and  selfish  pur- 
poses, they  succeed  in  misleading  the  credulous 
and  in  retaining  power. 

The  more  extensive  a  research  into  the  religions 
elaborated  by  man  is  made,  from  the  earliest  times 
to  the  present,  the  clearer  the  certainty  appears, 
that  no  comprehensible  fact  was  ever  attained  by 
him  that  was  not  entirely  within  the  compass  of 
his  mental  reasoning  powers,  which  required  no 
revelation  from  superhuman  intelligence  or  other 
abnormal  source.  It  is  apparent  on  critical  in- 
vestigation, that  the  world  we  live  in,  and  the  in- 
finity of  orbs  we  are  surrounded  by,  were  not  de- 

S1 


of 


signed  for  man  alone,  who  is  but  an  incident  in 
the  multiplicity  of  living  entities,  —  highest  and 
most  perfect  on  this  sphere,  —  but  not  controlling 
the  independent  existences  with  which  this  world 
teems,  and  with  which  the  universe  is  probably 
filled,  that  have  no  dependence  on  man's  advent 
or  status. 

The  preceding  sketch  of  the  advent  of  man  clearly 
shows  certain  indubitable  facts  from  which  subse- 
quent events  can  be  interpreted.  We  learn  since 
the  development  of  man  in  his  present  stage  of 
mentality  that  great  nations  were  aggregated,  with 
laws  and  moral  codes  in  accordance  with  their 
views,  under  which  they  were  organized.  The 
Chinese  claim  an  antiquity  of  some  ten  thousand 
years,  their  tradition  beginning  with  a  mythic  fable 
of  a  derivation  from  the  gods.  Their  subsequent 
development  was  enriched  with  philosophical  rea- 
soning culminating  in  the  profound  teacher  Con- 
fucius, who  gave  to  the  world  the  golden  rule  of 
strict  equity  by  man  to  his  fellow  man.  The  Chi- 
nese were  a  highly  civilized  nation  when  Europe 
was  in  a  state  of  barbarism. 

In  the  populous  territory  of  India  a  sect  sprang 
up  which  spread  with  unexampled  rapidity,  originat- 
ing in  the  teachings  of  an  ascetic,  Buddha,  which 

52 


Supernatural  CTouctjptious 

was  embraced  by  a  larger  number  of  people  than 
any  other  religion  extant,  and  at  the  present  day, 
according  to  Prof.  Max  Muller,  it  is  probably  em- 
braced by  four  hundred  and  fifty  millions,  or  one- 
third  of  the  human  race.  This  religion,  a  detail  of 
which  we  shall  give  hereafter,  was  promulgated 
more  than  five  hundred  years  B.  c.  It  was  preceded 
by  the  Brahmanical  faith  that  is  still  retained  in 
India  by  hosts  of  followers.  These  religions  were 
believed  to  have  been  inspired  miraculously  with 
innumerable  spiritual  manifestations  of  their  foun- 
der, whose  writings  were  believed  to  be  inspired. 

In  an  age  of  which  we  have  no  certain  history,  a 
great  nation  was  organized  in  Egypt,  the  remains  of 
whose  temples  and  tombs  still  astonish  the  world  by 
their  extent  and  grandeur ;  fortunately  much  of  their 
written  history  has  been  preserved,  from  which  we 
learn  the  religion  and  moral  teaching  of  that  ancient 
people,  that  has  become  extinct  in  modern  times, 
leaving  only  the  monuments  of  its  wonderful  civili- 
zation to  succeeding  ages.  In  later  times  we  have 
the  Greek  mythology,  with  its  poetical  anthology, 
and  the  Roman  gods  and  goddesses  with  which  our 
classical  literature  is  filled. 

The  indisputable  historical  facts  show  us  that  the 
human  race  attained  its  present  status  and  has  been 

53 


indefinitely  prolonged  prior  to  historic  time,  which 
modern  investigation  shows  us  has  been  extended 
by  a  progression  of  evolution  through  unknown 
myriads  of  years;  and  that  from  the  earliest  times 
of  which  we  have  any  trace  the  fully  developed  mind 
of  man  has  been  striving  to  find  out  the  origin  of 
creation,  and  the  purpose  of  its  existence.  As  these 
questions  were  unanswerable,  man's  creative  imagi- 
nation began  to  formulate  a  first  cause  or  causes,  to 
account  for  the  tangible  creation  visible  to  him, 
which  has  naturally  resulted  in  the  multiplicity  of 
dogmas  that  the  subtle  brain  of  man  developed  from 
his  varied  contact  with  nature ;  hence  the  multitudi- 
nous sects  were  elaborated  with  which  man  strove 
to  elucidate  the  unknown. 

We  have  no  clearer  knowledge  of  the  purpose  of 
this  wonderful  creation  (so  complete  from  beyond 
microscopic  minuteness  to  the  unfathomable  count- 
less systems  of  spheres)  than  man  had  at  the  begin- 
ning of  history ;  nor  is  it  probable  we  will  ever  attain 
an  exposition  of  it  in  this  world.  The  beginning  and 
end  of  time,  of  space,  or  matter,  are  equally  beyond 
man's  perception.  There  is  no  term  more  flip- 
pantly bandied  by  theologians  and  others  than  eter- 
nity, a  correct  conception  of  which  is  entirely  be- 
yond the  capabilities  of  the  human  mind,  yet  a 

54 


eotutptions 

knowledge   of  its    purport    is    claimed    by    most 
religions. 

Passing  over  further  details  of  the  primitive  aber- 
rations of  religious  thought  and  action,  with  which 
the  world's  literature  abounds,  we  will  direct  our 
succeeding  investigations  to  the  study  of  Jewish  the- 
ology and  the  Christian  religion  now  dominant  in 
Europe  and  America,  in  which  we  propose  to  enter 
into  greater  details,  as  they  control  the  religious  be- 
lief of  those  nations  in  which  the  greatest  advance 
has  been  made  in  a  knowledge  of  creation,  a  knowl- 
edge attained  by  the  successful  war  which  science 
has  achieved  against  religious  dogma  that  is  now 
struggling  to  reconcile  itself  with  scientific  truth  to 
retain  the  prestige  which  its  dogmatists  heretofore 
strenuously  repudiated. 


55 


<Dri0fn  of 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   GOD   OF   THE    OLD   TESTAMENT 

THE  Jews  were  descendants  of  a  nomadic  race 
that  finally  settled  in  Canaan,  after  driving  out  its 
inhabitants,  with  great  slaughter  and  cruelty  toward 
those  whom  they  dispossessed.  This  tribe  assumed 
to  have  been  held  in  servile  bondage  by  the  King  of 
Egypt,  from  whom  they  escaped,  and  led  an  itiner- 
ant life  without  apparent  purpose  for  many  years. 
They  were  a  turbulent  race,  as  appears  from  their 
record,  sometimes  worshipping  the  God  of  Moses, 
and  at  other  times  repudiating  him.  They  traversed 
desert  countries  and  became  a  warlike  people.  Fi- 
nally they  emerged  from  the  wilderness,  and  after 
spying  out  the  coveted  land  of  Canaan,  they  took 
possession  of  it  under  the  dubious  claim  of  a  gift 
from  their  God  to  their  progenitor  Abraham. 

They  consolidated  and  became  a  kingdom;  and 
by  the  theological  teachings  of  their  prophets  they 
lauded  their  God  above  those  of  other  nations,  al- 

56 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

though  they  did  not  deny  the  existence  of  them.  In 
their  traditions  they  were  God's  chosen  people,  es- 
pecially favored  by  him  above  all  other  nations. 
Their  Scriptures,  as  they  come  down  to  us,  were  com- 
piled, or  written  from  traditions,  after  their  return 
from  captivity  in  Babylon.  They  claimed  descent 
from  Abraham,  who  was  a  nomad  belonging  to  one 
of  the  minor  tribes  of  Asia,  of  which  nothing  is  re- 
corded showing  any  peculiar  enlightenment,  or  a 
connection  with  the  more  civilized  and  prominent 
nations;  no  apparent  superiority  or  special  reason 
is  given  why  Abraham  should  have  been  selected  by 
God  as  his  chosen  favorite  above  all  other  people, 
whose  descendants  he  promised  to  make  a  dominant 
nation.  The  Jews  finally  sublimated  their  God  as 
the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  with  attributes  like 
those  described  in  the  Babylonian  legends  and 
myths  of  other  Eastern  nations. 

The  Jews  were  never  a  dominant  nation,  and 
were  at  last  conquered  by  the  Babylonians,  by  whom 
they  were  held  captive  for  many  years.  Their  rela- 
tions with  their  captors  were  intimate,  with  full  op- 
portunity to  become  familiar  with  their  literature 
and  sacred  legends.  On  their  return  from  captivity 
Ezra  gathered  the  traditions  of  his  people  and  com- 
piled their  history.  In  those  annals  the  legends  of 

57 


<D  tiffin  of 

their  captors  are  largely  interpolated,  and  modified 
to  harmonize  with  their  own  traditions. 

Among  the  earlier  conceptions  of  creation  on  rec- 
ord, brought  to  light  by  research  in  modern  times, 
are  those  deciphered  from  Babylonian  and  Assyrian 
tablets,  in  which  is  found  a  description  of  the  creation 
from  which  the  accounts  in  Genesis  were  evidently 
drawn.  These  were  attributed  to  Moses,  who,  as 
has  been  conclusively  proved  by  modern  investiga- 
tion, was  not  their  author.  With  these  facts  before 
us  much  light  is  thrown  on  the  other  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  as  a  traditional  compilation  from  un- 
written legends.  The  precepts,  laws,  and  usages  set 
forth  in  them  are  primitive,  and  not  above  the  teach- 
ings of  uninspired  sages  in  earliest  times ;  their  mun- 
dane origin  is  clearly  proved  by  their  dereliction  from 
the  established  facts  of  the  known  universe. 

In  a  recently  published  work  by  a  learned  theolo- 
gian, the  Rev.  Elwood  Worcester,  D.  D.,  entitled 
"The  Book  of  Genesis  in  the  Light  of  Modern 
Knowledge/'  he  thus  frankly  writes:  "As  regards 
the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  general  result  of  a  century 's 
work  is  something  like  this :  Moses  is  not  believed 
to  be  the  author  of  the  Pentateuch ;  the  Pentateuch 
is  not  the  composition  of  any  one  man,  nor  of  any 
one  time.  It  does  not,  however,  consist  of  a  number 


Supernatural 


of  fragments  thrown  together  haphazard,  but  of  three 
or  four  separate  compositions,  well  defined  and  for 
the  most  part  easy  to  detach  from  one  another,  which 
run  through  the  entire  Pentateuch  and  the  Book  of 
Joshua."  He  says:  "They  contain  statements  that 
so  flatly  contradict  each  other,  that  we  are  obliged 
to  choose  one  or  the  other,  but  cannot  take  both." 
(Would  it  not  be  more  rational  to  reject  both  ?) 

Doctor  Worcester  says  :  '  '  The  composition  by  one 
mind  is  unthinkable,  unless  the  author  wrote  with 
reckless  haste  and  cared  nothing  about  contradict- 
ing himself  half  a  dozen  times  in  as  many  lines." 
But  what  shall  be  said  of  the  compiler  who  pub- 
lishes these  contradictions  as  divine  teachings? 
Doctor  Worcester's  version  is,  that  they  were  good 
stories  which  the  compiler  did  not  wish  to  spoil  by 
correction.  Very  well  for  the  stories,  but  fatal  to 
their  claim  as  revelations. 

In  comparing  Genesis  to  modern  thought,  he  says 
of  modern  history  :  '  '  Everything  therein  occurs  in  a 
perfectly  natural  way,  and  important  events  are  hap- 
pening on  purely  natural  grounds.  Such  things  as 
the  immediate  interference  of  God,  immediate  mes- 
sages from  God,  prophetic  dreams,  et  cetera,  are 
never  mentioned.  We  turn  to  Genesis,  however, 
and  feel  this  difference.  There  God  appears  to  men 

59 


of 


constantly,  under  one  form  or  another.  He  speaks 
to  them  face  to  face.  He  makes  clothes  for  Adam 
and  Eve.  He  appears  to  Jacob  in  a  dream.  He 
curses  one  man  and  he  blesses  another."  This  clear- 
headed writer  further  says:  "If  a  man  to-day  were 
to  write  a  history  of  our  late  war  with  Spain  in  the 
style  of  the  Genesis,  it  would  be  painful  to  us  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  we  should  set  the  writer  down 
either  utterly  deluded  or  as  a  daring  blasphemer." 
"While  some  may  believe  God  has  changed  his 
methods,"  Doctor  Worcester  says,  "the  educated 
will  find  it  less  easy  to  believe  God  has  changed  so 
much,  than  to  believe  man's  views  have  changed. 
What  at  one  time  seemed  perfectly  natural  for  God 
to  do,  seems  not  only  on  natural  grounds  improbable, 
but  on  moral  grounds,  for  God  to  do  to-day.  We 
prefer,"  says  Doctor  Worcester,  "to  preserve  our 
ideal  untarnished  by  the  soiling  touch  of  Genesis.'  ' 
Doctor  Worcester  states  plainly  that  "the  stories  of 
creation,  of  Paradise,  the  story  of  the  fall,  of  Noah's 
flood,  and  the  Tower  of  Babel,  are  myths,  and  exist 
in  the  traditions  of  other  nations."  He  adds,  how- 
ever, "The  truth  does  not  lie  in  the  supposed  fact, 
but  in  the  lessons  that  are  drawn  from  it."  And  he 
asks  the  pertinent  question,  "What  is  the  Book 
of  Genesis?  "  adding,  strangely,  "We  all  admit,  I 

60 


Supernatural  Contrjittong 

presume,  that  it  is  an  inspired  book!  "  —  a  myth,  a 
fable,  inspired! 

Are  we  sane  —  normally  perfect  mentally  —  or 
is  some  organ  of  the  brain  possessed  by  Doctor  Wor- 
cester wanting,  or  atrophied  in  us,  that  we  cannot 
admit  his  conclusion  logically?  A  mythic  fable,  al- 
though believed  in  for  ages  as  historical  and  in- 
spired, is  to  us  an  untenable  proposition.  The 
misconception  of  nature's  laws  and  the  known 
order  of  creation  displayed  in  Genesis  has  been  a 
fruitful  subject  of  explanation,  comment,  apology, 
and  strained  interpretation  by  learned  theologians 
and  others,  to  harmonize  it  with  the  proved  facts 
of  modern  scientific  investigation;  but  the  devia- 
tion of  the  legend  from  known  truths  is  too  appar- 
ent to  be  successfully  rescued  from  the  category  of 
the  fabulous. 

This  is  the  foundation  upon  which  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  religions  are  based ;  it  is  the  source  of 
Biblical  theology  that  is  referred  to  as  divine  au- 
thority in  the  succeeding  books  of  the  Bible.  In 
those  books  are  found  sublime  thoughts  and  moral 
maxims,  like  those  displayed  in  preceding  and  con- 
temporary religious  records;  but  the  attributes  de- 
picted of  the  Hebrew  God  display  a  primitive 
and  barbarous  character  difficult  to  reconcile  with 

61 


of 


the  idea  of  an  omnipotent  Creator  of  the  uni- 
verse. 

The  tradition  of  the  origin  of  the  Jews  corre- 
sponds with  the  character  and  portrayal  of  their 
God;  with  whom  the  gods  of  other  nations  were  at 
rivalry  and  war.  After  their  captivity  we  note  they 
attributed  to  him  the  creation  of  heaven  and  earth, 
and  copied  from  the  Babylonians  their  legends  of 
creation  that  we  have  seen  in  the  record  of  their 
literature,  in  which  is  related  the  six  days1  creation, 
so  perspicuously  stated  that  no  special  pleading 
can  claim  for  it  a  Hebrew  origin,  although  a  vast 
amount  of  intellect  has  been  expended  in  trying  to 
harmonize  this  legend  with  known  fact. 

If  we  carefully  analyze  Genesis  it  begins  with  the 
creation  by  God.  On  the  first  day  it  is  recorded  he 
created  from  chaos  the  earth,  in  utter  darkness  (how 
chaos  came  to  be  is  not  told)  ;  he  also  created  light 
(from  what  source  is  not  named  ;  it  certainly  was 
not  from  the  sun,  which  was  afterward  created). 
He  alternated  light  and  darkness  into  day  and  night 
(the  cause  of  which  is  not  stated),  thus  marking 
time,  and  forming  the  evening  and  morning  of  the 
first  day.1  On  the  second  day  he  divided  the  waters 

1  There  has  been  much  discussion  about  the  word  day  in  the 
Genesis,  but  the  term  is  clearly  defined  in  the  commandments  at- 

62 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

that  covered  the  earth,  by  means  of  a  "firmament" 
which  separated  the  waters  that  were  raised  up  by 
it  from  those  that  rested  upon  the  earth.1  This  fir- 
mament God  called  "heaven;"  this  was  the  work 
of  the  second  day.  On  the  third  day  the  waters 
below  were  gathered  into  one  place,  and  the  dry 
land  appeared,  which  God  called  the  earth;  he  also 
created  grass,  herbs,  and  fruit-trees.  On  the  fourth 
day,  after  he  had  created  light,  he  caused  two  orbs 
to  be  placed  in  the  "  firmament "  (on  which  the  waters 
were  supported  that  were  separated  from  the  waters 

tributed  to  God  and  given  to  Moses,  to  keep  the  seventh  day  holy, 
in  commemoration  of  the  day  on  which  he  rested,  after  his  six 
days1  labor.  That  meaning  of  the  word  was  never  questioned  by 
Jew  or  Christian,  until  science  demonstrated  its  error.  The 
seventh  day  was  observed  by  the  early  Christians,  until  the  Em- 
peror Constantine  substituted  by  an  edict,  A.D.  321,  the  holy  day 
of  the  sun-worshippers  for  constrained  worship.  The  edict  is  as 
follows:  "  Let  all  judges  and  people  of  the  town  rest,  and  all  the 
various  trades  be  suspended  on  the  venerable  day  of  the  sun. 
Those  who  live  in  the  country,  however,  may  freely  and  without 
fault  attend  to  the  cultivation  of  the  fields,  lest,  with  the  loss  of 
favorable  opportunity,  the  commodities  offered  by  Heaven  be 
destroyed."  (Just,  code,  III.,  Tit.  12.)  Constantine  seems  to 
have  been  more  rational  than  our  modern  legislators,  realizing 
the  fact  that  nature  ignores  rest  on  Sunday.  From  that  time 
the  Christian  world  has  kept  Sunday,  ignoring  the  seventh  day. 
1  This  description  can  only  mean  a  fixed  canopy,  the  empyrean, 
bounding  a  space  above  the  earth,  retaining  waters,  and  sustain- 
ing heaven;  this  was  its  interpretation  until  science  proved  its  fal- 
lacy and  banished  heaven  from  that  location. 

63 


of 


upon  the  earth)  ;  one  of  these  orbs  was  to  light  the 
day,  the  other  to  light  the  night.1  On  this  fourth 
day  "he  made  the  stars  also."  Such  is  the  divine 
revelation  of  the  creation  of  the  infinity  of  planets, 
each  one  immeasurably  bigger  than  this  earth,  the 
formation  of  which  was  all  accomplished  on  the 
fourth  day,  after  the  creation  of  the  earth. 

Five  days  were  expended  upon  this  little  orb, 
and  a  part  of  one  day  on  the  rest  of  the  creation  ! 
(Could  profound  ignorance  deviate  further  from 
the  known  truth?)  Great  whales  and  all  the  other 
inhabitants  of  the  sea  "the  water  brought  forth 
abundantly  ;  "  those  and  every  winged  fowl  were 
created  on  the  fifth  day.  On  the  sixth  day  God 
made  the  beasts  of  the  earth  and  cattle,  "  and  every- 
thing that  creepeth  upon  the  earth."  And  God 
said,  "Let  us  make  men  in  our  image,  with  domin- 
ion over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  fowl  of  the  air,  cattle, 
and  every  creeping  thing." 

In  God's  image  man  was  created,  and  on  the 

xTo  give  light  to  the  world,  according  to  the  record,  was  the 
only  purpose  the  sun  and  moon  were  created  for.  The  writer  had 
no  idea  of  their  comparative  magnitude  with  that  of  the  earth. 
No  mention  is  made  of  the  most  vitally  important  function  of  the 
sun  as  the  centre  of  this  system,  or  its  heat-giving  and  vivifying 
power,  which  are  wholly  ignored.  The  sun,  according  to  this 
record,  was  created  after  the  earth. 


Supernatural  <£ouctptfous 

seventh  day  God  rested  from  all  his  work,  and  he 
blessed  the  seventh  day  because  he  then  rested. 

The  legend  says  God  made  man  in  his  image; 
that  is,  in  his  shape  and  personality;  an  organized, 
formulated  being,  like  the  gods  of  other  nations  — 
of  Hindustan,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome.  God 
breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  Adam,  and  he  be- 
came a  living  man,  without  gestation  or  infancy.1 

After  preparing  a  garden  for  his  habitation,  in 
which  God  planted  two  trees  of  forbidden  fruit  as 
a  temptation,  and  placed  Adam  therein,  he  then 
said:  "It  is  not  good  that  man  should  be  alone;  I 
will  make  a  helpmeet  for  him."  So  he  caused  a 
deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and  purloined  a  rib 
from  him,  of  which  he  made  a  woman,  and  gave 
her  to  Adam  (no  doubt  a  very  happy  exchange  for 
his  rib,  the  loss  of  which  he  did  not  feel  in  his  sleep). 
At  that  time  they  were  naked,  and  so  ignorant  were 
they  that  they  did  not  know  it ;  but,  with  a  natural 
craving  for  knowledge,  they  ate  the  forbidden  fruit 
that  brought  death  as  a  penalty,  and  were  enlight- 
ened.2 

1  To  point  out  the  radical  difference  between  this  account  of 
the  creation  and  the  facts  of  evolution,  is  a  work  of  supereroga- 
tion ;  science  rejects  the  story  as  fabulous. 

2  The  largest,  oldest,  and  most  active  body  of  propagandists 
now  in  the  Christian  Church  teach  that  if  Adam  and  Eve  had 

65 


The  introduction  of  the  serpent  to  circumvent 
God's  command,  though  graphic,  militates  against 
his  omnipotence,  and  is  clearly  mythical.  The  in- 
comprehensible feature  of  the  incident  seems  to  be 
that  God  should  desire  to  keep  Adam  and  Eve  in  an 
ignorance  which  he  signally  failed  to  do.  The  pun- 
ishment of  the  serpent  was  unique:  to  crawl  upon 
his  belly  all  the  days  of  his  life.  (What  the  original 
style  of  his  locomotion  was  does  not  appear.)  If 
the  numerous  reptiles  we  now  know  that  move  in 
that  way  are  his  descendants,  we  have  another  in- 
stance of  punishment  for  transmitted  sin.  This 
fable,  as  interpreted  by  theologians,  would  not  be 
worth  criticizing,  but  for  the  very  serious  conse- 
quences to  man,  still  believed  in,  of  inherited  sin 
for  Adam's  transgression.  "In  Adam's  fall  we 
sinned  all,"  was  the  doctrine  taught,  and  is  not  to 

not  eaten  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  there  would  have 
been  no  death  in  the  world  and  mankind  would  live  forever !  If, 
however,  this  primitive  pair  had  eaten  of  the  tree  of  life  first, 
they  would  have  escaped  that  penalty  and  have  lived  forever! 
But  they  neglected  their  opportunity  until  God  became  aware  of 
their  transgression,  and  ordered  a  guard  for  the  tree  of  life,  driv- 
ing Adam  and  Eve  out  of  the  garden  where  they  came  so  near 
being  co-equal  with  him.  Whether  the  attributes  conferred  by 
the  tree  of  life  would  have  descended  to  Adam's  progeny  as  his 
sin  did  (if  he  had  had  any  progeny),  we  leave  to  the  theologians 
to  determine. 

66 


Supernatural 


be  doubted  with  safety  by  the  elect  ;  it  is  the  unques- 
tioned belief,  in  the  majority  of  Christian  churches. 
To  seek  for  a  logical  reason  for  this  irrational  story, 
which  is  still  taught  as  the  motive  for  God's  irrevo- 
cable decree  of  death  to  all  mankind,  and  the  raison 
d'etre  for  Christ's  advent,  to  be  believed  as  an  un- 
questionable truth  with  unquestioning  faith  by  all 
true  believers  as  a  requisite  for  salvation  would  be 
futile. 

This  ancient  parable  has  evidently  been  mis- 
construed by  religionists  and  theologians.  A  ra- 
tional interpretation  shows  that  it  is  an  attempt  to 
allegorize  the  advent  of  generation  and  its  conse- 
quent concomitant  death  —  good  and  evil  —  as  it 
is  called.  The  parable  clearly  illustrates  the  fact 
that  in  the  reproduction  of  life  death  must  ensue, 
and  that  the  command  of  God  to  increase  and  mul- 
tiply, for  which  he  had  especially  organized  all  living 
things,  could  only  be  continued  by  giving  to  each 
a  limited  existence.  Hence,  what  is  made  in  the 
parable  a  transmitted  sin  was  in  reality  a  necessity 
prepared  by  God's  special  command;  while  to  ac- 
count for  death,  deemed  an  evil  and  curse,  the  story 
of  the  transgression  was  fabricated,  with  its  con- 
comitant punishment.  The  unreasoning  contra- 
dictions in  God's  purposes  involved  had  no  weight 


of 


with  the  author  of  the  legend,    clearly   displaying 
its  primitive  character. 

Passing  over  the  crude,  mythical  legend  of  cre- 
ation, with  its  stories  of  the  Lord  walking  in  the 
garden  in  the  cool  of  the  day,  and  making  gar- 
ments for  Adam  and  Eve,  that  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge had  not  taught  them  to  do;  and  his  sons 
courting  the  daughters  of  men  (which  has  since 
exercised  the  apologists  in  their  effort  to  prove  the 
narrative  divine)  ;  ending  in  the  expulsion  of  our 
disobedient  ancestor,  that  entailed  on  modern  the- 
ology the  dogma  of  original  sin,  and  its  sequent 
a  barbarous  redemption  by  blood,  a  revolting  ele- 
ment for  purification  of  a  primitive  age,  we  will 
turn  to  some  of  the  succeeding  acts  of  God,  as  re- 
corded in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  where  the  Noachian 
deluge,  drawn  from  Babylonian  records,  is  described 
with  the  episode  of  the  bow  in  the  clouds,  first 
displayed  by  God  to  seal  his  covenant  with  Noah, 
as  is  claimed.  To  seriously  criticize  the  fable 
would  be  an  act  of  folly  ;  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
the  deeds  there  recorded  could  never  have  been 
enacted  without  abrogating  the  immutable  laws 
that  govern  the  universe.  Like  the  story  of  the 
creation,  it  was  borrowed  by  the  Jews  from  their 
captors,  and  has  been  elaborated  in  various  forms 

68 


Supernatural  crouctjjttous 

by  primitive  people  the  world  over.  It  is  simply 
an  ignorant  and  erroneous  interpretation  of  mis- 
understood natural  phenomena. 

The  incomprehensible  feature  of  these  records 
is  God's  favoritism  toward  certain  persons  singled 
out  from  the  rest  of  Noah's  descendants,  without 
apparent  reason,  of  whom  he  promised  to  make 
a  dominant  nation  for  all  time,  whose  God  he  would 
be  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  people,  righting 
against  their  adversaries.  Such  is  the  God  of  the 
Old  Testament,  showing  Abram  to  be  the  first 
of  these  fondlings,  whom  he  commanded  to  aban- 
don his  kinsfolk  and  go  to  the  land  he  would  give 
him.1 

Abram  took  his  kinsman  Lot  with  him,  from 
whom  he  afterward  separated;  and  after  numer- 
ous vicissitudes  he  rescued  Lot  and  the  city  of 
Sodom,  not  then  accursed,  from  their  enemies. 
When  Abram  wanted  a  confirmation  of  God's 
promises  to  him,  he  offered  a  bloody  sacrifice  to 
God,  and  then  dreamed  a  confirmation ;  yet  Abram 

1  It  should  be  noted  that  this  claim  to  a  divine  right  of  inher- 
itance was  written  after  the  Israelites  had  taken  possession  of 
the  land  of  Canaan,  and  driven  out  its  prior  inhabitants,  of  whose 
possessions  they  robbed  them.  The  Jewish  raiders  claimed  God 
gave  to  their  father  Abraham  this  land,  with  the  promise  to 
make  Abraham's  seed  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  innumerable. 


JTljc  (Driflin  of 

had  to  leave  the  land  thus  given  to  him,  never  to 
return,  and  went  into  Egypt.  There  he  was  guilty 
of  deception  and  falsehood,  which  eventuated  hi 
his  becoming  rich.  This  showed  characteristics 
that  descended  to  his  posterity  in  after-time. 

The  morals  of  Abram  could  hardly  escape  cen- 
sure from  the  criminal  or  ethical  code  of  modern 
civilization.  His  treatment  of  Hagar  would  not 
now  be  approved  even  in  God's  favorite ;  although 
at  that  time  it  seemed  to  impart  immunity  to  the 
elect  in  the  transgression  of  every  moral  law. 

Of  this  doctrine  the  Scotch  Covenanters  availed 
themselves,  well  illustrated  in  "Holy  Willie's 
Prayer."  God  declared  Abram  perfect,  and  called 
him  Abraham  in  token  thereof,  binding  himself 
by  covenant  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  after  him, 
giving  to  him  and  his  seed  the  land  of  Canaan  for 
an  everlasting  possession,  with  a  promise  to  be 
their  God,  to  aid  them  against  all  men.  (The 
world  can  now  judge  how  far  this  promise  has  been 
fulfilled.)  The  episode  of  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
so  emphasizes  the  lack  of  omniscience  in  Abra- 
ham's guest,  as  to  stamp  him  quite  human  and 
very  impressible  to  Abraham's  pleading. 

A  more  vivid  picture  of  a  barbaric  age  than  the 
story  of  Lot  can  hardly  be  conceived;  yet  in  very 

70 


Supernatural 


recent  times  it  would  have  been  heretical  and  im- 
pious to  advance  a  doubt  of  its  truth,  or  that  the 
pillar  of  salt  representing  Lot's  wife  was  not  still 
standing  as  a  record  of  the  truth  of  the  story.  Yet 
this  man  Lot,  according  to  the  legend,  was  an  in- 
ebriate sot,  who  committed  incest  with  his  own 
daughters,  from  the  progeny  of  which  nations 
sprang.  Such  is  the  story  of  one  of  God's  elect. 

Isaac,  a  succeeding  elect  of  the  God  of  the  He- 
brews, was,  from  a  human  standpoint,  far  below 
the  rule  of  modern  equity.  In  his  old  age  he  was 
misled  by  the  chicanery  of  Jacob  and  his  mother 
into  blessing  him,  to  the  detriment  of  his  brother, 
whom  Isaac  thought  he  was  blessing.  It  is  singu- 
lar that  Isaac  did  not  repudiate  the  fraud  and 
stranger  still  that  God  should  sanction  it. 

The  hermeneutic  theologians  declare  the  ways 
of  God  to  be  inscrutable  and  just,  though  far  above 
our  comprehension;  yet  the  omnipotent  Ruler 
of  the  Universe  sanctioned  what  we  assume  to  be 
evil.  Thus  God  was  controlled  by  Isaac's  mis- 
take, which  he  refused  to  correct,  and  adopted 
Jacob  as  his  next  prottge. 

Jacob's  vision  of  a  communication  with  heaven 
above  by  a  ladder  was  based  on  the  assumption 
that  the  earth  was  stationary,  and  heaven  located 

71 


of 


above  it,  the  common  idea  of  that  age,  which  mod- 
ern science  has  dispelled.  Jacob  practised  his  sub- 
tle course  in  his  dealings  with  Laban,  by  whom 
he  had  been  deceived,  in  which  they  strove  to  over- 
reach each  other.  Jacob,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
being  the  favorite  of  God,  succeeded  in  outwit- 
ing  Laban,  aided  by  his  wife  Rachel,  who  stole 
her  father's  gods  on  leaving  him.  How  Jacob's 
God  condoned  this  is  not  stated. 

A  notable  act  in  Jacob's  career  was  the  deceit 
and  bad  faith  enacted  against  Hamor  and  his 
people.  Hamor  made  a  treaty  with  the  Israelites, 
acting  in  good  faith  on  his  part,  showing  friendship 
and  a  desire  to  fraternize  with  them;  but  when 
the  Israelites,  by  their  deception,  had  rendered  the 
Hivites  noncombatant,  they  rushed  in  and  mur- 
dered their  allies.  Such  were  the  chosen  people 
of  the  Israelites'  God. 

The  next  favorite  under  the  special  care  of 
God  was  Joseph,  who  throughout  his  life  had  the 
purest  record  of  all  God's  chosen  ones.  He  passed 
through  many  trying  vicissitudes  with  strict  in- 
tegrity. He  was  finally  made  ruler  in  Egypt,  and 
received  his  father  and  brethren  there,  and  gave 
them  a  home.  The  result  of  this  immigration  of 
Jacob's  family,  after  the  death  of  their  protector 

72 


Supernatural  <£auctptiaus 

Joseph,  was  a  reduction  to  servile  tasks  and  op- 
pression, until  rescued  by  Moses.  The  story  of 
their  deliverance  is  one  of  the  most  contradictory 
and  illogical  narratives  in  the  Bible. 

God,  seeing  the  affliction  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt, 
sent  Moses  to  their  rescue.  He  went  reluctantly, 
after  much  coercion,  encouraged  by  God's  turn- 
ing his  rod  into  a  serpent.  Moses  and  Aaron  went 
to  Pharaoh  and  demanded  the  release  of  the  Is- 
raelites; but  God  frankly  declared  that  he  would 
harden  Pharaoh's  heart,  that  he  would  not  let 
them  go.  This  seems  to  have  been  done  for  no 
apparent  purpose  but  to  afford  an  opportunity  of 
displaying  God's  power  to  Pharaoh.  The  demand 
of  Moses  brought  down  severer  tasks  on  the  Is- 
raelites, with  a  refusal  to  let  them  go,  for  the  Lord 
had  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart  that  he  might  mul- 
tiply his  "signs  and  wonders."  He  tells  Moses: 
' '  Pharaoh  shall  not  hearken  unto  you,  that  I  may 
lay  my  hand  upon  Egypt,  and  bring  out  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  with  great  judgments."  When 
Pharaoh  asked  them  to  show  a  miracle,  Aaron 
threw  down  his  rod,  as  God  commanded,  and  it 
became  a  serpent;  but  the  magicians  of  Egypt 
threw  down  their  rods  and  they  became  serpents, 
proving  that  the  magic  of  that  feat  was  known  to 

73 


of 


them;  but  although  Aaron's  rod  proved  the  strong- 
est, the  act  as  a  miracle  was  destroyed.  When 
Moses  and  Aaron  again  demanded  of  Pharaoh  the 
release  of  their  people,  on  his  refusal  they  turned 
the  waters  of  Egypt  into  blood.  This  miracle  the  ma- 
gicians readily  imitated,  showing  it  was  not  beyond 
the  power  of  their  magic  to  compass,  and  was  in 
no  way  miraculous.  The  next  attempt  at  miracu- 
lous skill  was  producing  frogs.  The  magicians 
compassed  that  also,  and  produced  frogs  abun- 
dantly. The  frogs  were  probably  not  a  gastro- 
nomic delicacy  then  in  Egypt,  but  a  nuisance,  so 
Pharaoh  agreed  to  let  the  Israelites  go;  but  when 
the  frogs  disappeared,  Pharaoh,  by  God's  direc- 
tion, revoked  his  promise. 

The  next  plague  was  lice  and  then  flies  infest- 
ing the  land  of  Egypt.  The  art  of  the  magicians 
could  not  descend  to  the  production  of  these  pes- 
tiferous vermin,  so  Pharaoh  consented  to  let  the 
Israelites  go.  But  God  had  not  done  showing 
his  "signs  and  wonders"  to  Pharaoh;  so  he  made 
him  still  retain  the  Israelites  through  another  series 
of  miracles,  terminating  in  the  destruction  of  the 
first-born  throughout  all  Egypt  ! 

We  will  pause  here  to  investigate  these  stupendous 
miracles.  God  commanded  Moses  to  demand  of 

74 


Pharaoh  the  release  of  the  Israelites,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  caused  Pharaoh  to  refuse  to  eman- 
cipate them,  for  the  purpose,  as  he  frankly  avows, 
of  displaying  his  might  and  power  in  a  series  of 
miracles  which  were  transcendently  low,  barbar- 
ous, and  vulgar;  culminating  in  the  horrible  and 
fiendish  destruction  of  children  and  animals  that  had 
in  no  way  offended  him,  and  were  without  power 
to  control  or  mitigate  the  decree  of  Pharaoh,  which 
in  this  case  was  the  decree  of  God.  If  a  more  in- 
iquitous act  can  be  conceived  by  the  most  depraved 
imagination,  or  one  of  more  wanton  cruelty  and 
injustice,  we  confess  it  is  beyond  our  power  of  im- 
agination. 

When  God  had  finished  his  display  of  wonders 
and  had  executed  his  vengeance  against  Pharaoh, 
whom  he  had  caused  to  retain  and  oppress  the 
Israelites  for  that  purpose,  according  to  this  ve- 
racious revelation,  he  caused  Pharaoh  to  assent 
to  the  Israelites'  departure.  Yet  God  had  not 
finished  the  exhibition  of  his  marvels,  so  Pharaoh 
was  caused  to  remain  unsubdued  by  all  the  plagues 
under  which  he  and  his  people  suffered.  This 
gave  another  opportunity  for  a  display  of  God's 
power  to  finish  the  drama,  ending  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  Pharaoh's  host  in  the  Red  Sea.  Comment 

75 


(Dvtjjfn  of 


on  this  preposterous  fable  seems  unnecessary.  To 
any  one  who  cannot  see  the  absurdity  and  incredi- 
bility of  the  tale,  reasoning  is  superfluous.  It  is 
significant  that  no  mention  is  made  in  Egyptian, 
or  other  contemporary  record,  of  any  such  potent 
event,  which  could  hardly  have  been  omitted  if 
it  had  really  occurred. 

The  Israelites  left  Egypt,  it  is  related,  after  de- 
spoiling, by  God's  command,  their  confiding  neigh- 
bors, the  Egyptians,  of  their  jewelry  and  other  val- 
uables, who  inconceivably  loaned  them  without 
mistrust  or  unfriendly  feeling  toward  their  neigh- 
bors, notwithstanding  the  terrible  ordeal  they  had 
passed  through  in  the  Israelites'  struggle  for  free- 
dom. (This  betrayal  of  their  friends  may  have  been 
the  cause  of  the  pursuit  by  the  Egyptians  after  the 
Israelites  had  absconded  with  the  borrowed  treas- 
ure.) They  wandered  in  the  wilderness,  or  sparsely 
populated  regions,  until  they  grew  strong  enough 
for  more  ambitious  conquests.  When  it  finally  ap- 
peared that  they  had  certain  preemption  rights  in 
Canaan,  they  proceeded  to  assert  them  by  making 
unprovoked  war  on  the  occupants  of  that  country. 

During  the  wanderings  in  the  wilderness  there 
were,  according  to  the  record,  many  divine  inter- 
positions, as  God  led  them  by  a  pillar  of  fire  at  night, 

76 


Supernatural 

and  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day.  Yet,  with  this  visible 
symbol  of  God's  presence  constantly  before  them, 
they  were  dissatisfied  and  turbulent,  often  straying 
after  other  gods,  although  assured  that  their  God 
was  jealous  and  vindictive,  visiting  the  sins  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  third  and  fourth  generation.  This 
declaration  of  vengeance  beyond  the  offender  was 
extended  to  the  end  of  time  in  the  descendants  of 
Adam,  which  is  radically  different  from  the  code  of 
justice  among  enlightened  people  of  the  present 
day.  The  painful  efforts  of  theologians  to  harmon- 
ize this  crude  dogma  with  modern  ethics  are  pitiable 
and  fallacious,  as  in  many  other  Biblical  statements 
contrary  to  proved  facts. 

The  denunciations  against  making  graven  images 
of  other  gods,  or  worshipping  them,  were  terrible 
and  emphatic,  and  the  Israelites  were  under  the 
most  solemn  obligations  to  refrain  from  the  wor- 
ship of  any  god  but  Jehovah ;  yet  when  Moses  went 
up  to  meet  God  on  Mount  Sinai,  and  received  the 
table  of  stone  on  which  the  ten  commandments 
were  written,  together  with  God's  verbal  instruc- 
tions, as  he  delayed  to  come  down,  people  began 
to  wonder,  and  going  to  the  high  priest  Aaron  said : 
' '  Up,  make  us  gods,  for  as  for  this  Moses,  the  man 
that  brought  us  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  we  wot 

77 


2TJjc  (Dvtfltn  of 

not  what  has  become  of  him."  Then  Aaron  took 
from  them  their  golden  jewels,  without  a  protest 
against  their  infidelity,  and,  keeping  on  the  popular 
side,  he  made  them  a  golden  calf,  which  they  re- 
ceived from  him  as  the  god  that  had  rescued  them 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  he  built  an  altar 
before  the  new  god  he  had  made,  and  proclaimed 
a  feast,  at  which  he  offered  burnt  offerings  and 
peace-offerings  from  the  people,  saying,  "These  be 
thy  gods,  oh,  Israel!  which  have  brought  thee  up 
out  of  the  land  oj  Egypt.11  This  shows  the  value  the 
Israelites  and  their  high  priest  Aaron  placed  on  the 
fehovah,  of  which  such  wonders  are  related. 

But  their  transgression  was  too  great  for  Moses' 
God,  who  bid  him  not  to  interfere,  and  he  would 
consume  them  in  his  wrath.  But  Moses,  more  pol- 
itic, did  interfere,  and  showed  superior  acumen, 
notwithstanding  the  flattering  promises  held  out  to 
him  of  becoming  the  founder  of  a  nation ;  and  he  be- 
sought the  Lord  his  God  to  turn  from  his  fierce 
wrath,  "and  repent  of  this  evil  against  thy  people," 
telling  him  to  remember  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Israel, 
to  whom  he  had  sworn  he  would  multiply  their  seed 
as  the  stars  of  heaven.  "And  the  Lord  repented  of 
the  evil  which  he  thought  to  do  unto  his  people." 
Then  Moses  went  down  and  slew  about  three  thou- 

78 


eotutptfong 


sand  men  obnoxious  to  him,  as  a  modified  revenge 
on  the  worshippers  of  Aaron's  golden  calf. 

But  Aaron,  the  head  and  front  of  the  offending, 
and  its  instigator,  escaped  punishment.  This  may 
account  for  Moses  allaying  the  wrath  of  God  that 
would  have  jeopardized  the  life  of  his  brother. 
Moses  persuaded  God  to  forgive  the  rest  of  the 
people,  which  included  his  brother  Aaron.  The  in- 
timacy between  the  Lord  and  Moses  was  phenome- 
nal; he  "spake  unto  Moses  face  to  face,  as  a  man 
speaks  unto  his  friend."  This  seems  to  traverse 
the  declaration  of  God  when  urged  by  Moses  to 
show  him  his  glory.  "Thou  canst  not  see  my  face," 
said  God,  "for  there  shall  no  man  see  me  and  live." 
But  he  offered  Moses  a  compromise,  telling  him  to 
stand  upon  a  rock,  and  while  he  passed  by  he  would 
put  him  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock,  and  cover  him  with 
his  hand;  "and  I  will  take  away  mine  hand  and 
thou  shalt  see  my  back  parts,  but  my  face  shall  not 
be  seen."  When  God  came,  in  accordance  with 
this  declaration,  Moses  made  haste  and  bowed  his 
head  until  the  Lord  had  passed,  and  he  then  saw 
God's  "back  parts."  Moses  built  a  tabernacle  by 
command  of  his  God  that  was  furnished  sumptu- 
ously, showing  his  unlimited  control  over  the  people 
and  their  purses. 

79 


(Drtfltn  of 

The  Israelites  wandered  many  years,  according 
to  their  legends.  In  following  the  description  of 
their  inconsistent,  bloody,  and  barbarous  acts,  it  is 
a  relief  to  the  benevolent  reader  to  know  that  no 
mention  is  made  in  the  writings  of  any  contempo- 
rary nation  of  this  primitive  cruelty  recorded  in  the 
Jewish  Scriptures,  where  the  aim  seems  to  be  to 
chronicle  the  marvellous  works  of  their  God,  and 
exalt  him  above  all  others  in  might,  regardless  of 
equity  or  justice.  The  law  under  Moses  was  bar- 
barous and  rude,  such  as  a  primitive  people  in  their 
condition  would  be  likely  to  enact  of  their  own  un- 
instructed  volition;  while  it  is  claimed  that  those 
laws  were  dictated  by  command  of  the  God  that 
Jews  and  Christians  believe  in,  as  the  Creator  of 
heaven  and  earth.  How  far  the  characteristics  of 
this  God  have  been  copied  in  later  times  by  his  wor- 
shippers we  leave  for  their  investigation. 

Joshua,  the  doughty  leader  of  the  Israelites  in 
despoiling  the  Canaanites,  was  appointed  by  Moses, 
and  became  ruler  over  the  hosts  of  Israel.  His 
career,  described  in  the  Pentateuch,  was  as  mar- 
vellous as  that  of  his  predecessor,  and  was  filled 
with  the  supernatural.  Under  Joshua,  the  walls  of 
Jericho  were  thrown  down  by  the  blowing  of  rams' 
horns,  although  his  army  compassed  the  city  with 

80 


Sujpcnuituva! 

the  magic  number  seven  times.  His  next  notable 
adventure  was  the  defence  of  the  Gibeonites;  on 
which  occasion  he  commanded  the  sun  to  stand  still, 
1 '  and  the  sun  stood  still  in  the  midst  of  the  heavens, 
and  hastened  not  to  go  down  for  about  a  whole 
day,"  that  the  Israelites  might  slaughter  their  op- 
ponents. The  author  of  Joshua  can  hardly  extol 
him  sufficiently,  or  his  command  over  the  heavenly 
bodies.  He  truly  says  of  that  prolonged  day,  that 
there  was  no  day  like  it,  either  before  or  after  it 
(which  we  can  readily  believe).  And  as  if  realizing 
that  his  story  was  incredible,  the  author  adds  in 
confirmation,  "Is  this  not  written  in  the  book  of 
Jasher?"  Now  all  we  know  of  Jasher  is  a  similar 
reference  to  him  in  Samuel  2 :  i,  18.  Jasher  seems 
to  need  a  sponsor  as  much  as  the  author  of  Joshua 
to  establish  his  veracity.  Although  we  have  no 
knowledge  of  him  except  the  use  of  his  name  as 
authority  for  this  impossible  story,  which  has  been 
received  as  a  fact  by  Jews  and  Christians  down  to 
the  present  day.  Perhaps  the  marvellous  story  of 
the  fall  of  Jericho  came  also  from  Jasher,  as  that 
certainly  needs  the  proof  of  cumulative  evidence  to 
render  it  probable. 

In  what  light  would  the  civilized  world  now  con- 
sider the  fiendish  destruction  of  a  conquered  people, 

81 


of 


such  as  was  accomplished  by  Joshua  with  the  ap- 
proval, and  by  the  command  of  God  ?  Yet  we  have 
heard  his  acts  commended  in  this  civilized  age  by 
theologians. 

According  to  the  record  Joshua  fought  a  war  of 
extermination  against  an  unoffending  people,  to 
rob  them  of  their  lands,  under  the  delusive  pretence 
of  his  God's  approval.  God  seems  to  have  been 
on  the  side  of  his  chosen  people,  who  combined  re- 
ligious fanaticism  with  long  training,  regardless  of 
the  equitable  rights  of  others;  but  the  justice  and 
morality  of  the  act  is  more  than  doubtful,  quite  be- 
yond the  dictates  of  civilization  or  the  power  of 
reason  to  approve. 

From  the  utterances  of  Joshua  in  his  old  age,  it 
is  evident  that  other  gods  than  that  of  Israel  were 
recognized  by  him  as  existent,  although  he  believed 
his  God  to  be  the  most  puissant  ;  yet  in  dereliction 
of  their  prohibitive  creed,  the  Israelites  were  led 
away  to  worship  the  gods  of  other  nations.  While 
the  prevarication,  vacillation,  and  inconsistencies 
of  Israel's  God  pervade  the  books  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, the  ignorance  of  their  authors  about  the 
world's  true  history  precludes  the  assumption  that 
they  are  vicariously  inspired  records,  and  proves 
their  unreliable  character  as  divine  revelation. 

82 


These  Scriptures  undoubtedly  contain  historical 
facts,  just  precepts,  and  truthful  maxims,  with  no- 
table examples  of  purity  and  morality,  like  most  of 
the  earlier  sacred  records  of  other  people;  these  are 
the  accumulation  of  ages,  formulated  by  the  attri- 
tion of  contact  with  the  world  in  social  relations; 
they  do  not  exceed  their  antecedents,  and  are  com- 
mingled with  the  grossest  barbarisms. 

The  prophecies  of  Jeremiah,  which  were  written 
after  the  events  they  assumed  to  have  foretold  were 
enacted,  record  the  accusations  of  the  Lord  against 
the  kings  and  people  for  their  transgressions,  espe- 
cially for  their  worship  of  other  gods,  numerous  as 
the  number  of  their  cities,  and  he  declares  a  list  of 
sins  for  which  they  deserve  destruction. 

God  tells  Jeremiah  that  he  will  bring  Nebuchad- 
nezzar to  fight  against  the  Israelites,  and  he  declares 
he  will  fight  with  him,  with  anger,  fury,  and  great 
wrath,  without  pity  or  mercy  —  amiable  God  ! 

Among  the  wrongs  to  be  reformed  we  find  "  Woe 
unto  him  that  useth  his  neighbor's  service  without 
wages,  and  giveth  him  not  for  his  work,"  a  broad 
hint  to  modern  capitalists.  The  prophecies  of  Jere- 
miah as  the  word  of  the  Lord  excel  in  the  ' '  horrible 
and  awful;"  they  are  preposterously  bombastic 
with  his  "roaring"  and  "howling"  fury.  The  as- 


of 


sumption  that  Vs.  5  and  6,  Chap.  23,  Chap.  31,  v. 
22,  and  Chap.  33  :  15  refer  to  Christ,  nothing  but 
unreasoning  fanaticism  could  compass;  Israel  did 
not  dwell  in  safety  under  him. 

The  fact  appears  to  be,  beyond  all  successful 
contradiction,  that  the  God  depicted  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  was  a  vacillating,  vengeful,  barbarous 
creation,  delighting  in  bloody  sacrifices.  He  not 
only  allowed,  but  commanded,  most  horrible  atroci- 
ities  in  exterminating  war,  and  despoiling  nations 
by  his  chosen  people  to  get  possession  of  their  heri- 
tage and  lands  ;  murdering  their  defenceless  women 
and  children,  and  with  bestial  lust  saving  the  vir- 
gins as  spoils.  The  only  pretence  for  this  was  a 
gift  from  God,  whom  they  often  neglected  to  wor- 
ship; who  never  enlightened,  conciliated,  or  pro- 
tected their  victims.  But,  strangest  of  all,  the  Is- 
raelites themselves,  with  all  their  God's  miracu- 
lous favors  showered  upon  them,  and  with  the 
threat  of  condign  punishment  meted  out  to  them 
by  the  wrath  of  God  if  they  forsook  him,  frequently 
repudiated  their  divine  benefactor,  in  whom  they 
apparently  placed  little  reliance,  except  under 
the  stringent  control  of  Moses,  or  some  other  po- 
tent ruler  to  coerce  them.  Even  Aaron,  the  first 
high  priest  of  their  God  and  consecrated  to  his 

84 


erotunittans 


service,  who,  as  is  said,  had  witnessed  all  his  mira- 
cles in  Egypt,  where  he  was  an  actor,  repudiated 
his  worship,  substituting  a  golden  calf  for  the  idol- 
atrous worship  of  the  people,  who  rejected  their 
God's  divinity  and  the  legends  glorifying  him,  to 
worship  an  idol  as  their  deliverer  from  Egyptian 
bondage.  These  nomads  paid  very  doubtful  rev- 
erence to  the  God  of  Moses,  and  often  ignored  him  ; 
this  would  be  inconceivable  if  the  wonders  told  of 
him  ever  occurred. 

The  narrow  dogma  that  all  goodness  of  act  and 
thought  comes  from  the  direct  interposition  of 
God,  and  all  evil  from  a  devil,  or  false  god,  which 
then  seemed  specious,  we  discard,  and  apprehend 
now  that  every  thought  and  act  of  man  is  of  his 
own  independent  volition,  and  produces  a  normal 
result  under  unvarying  law.  The  God  of  Moses 
by  his  barbarity,  vacillation,  and  impulsive  acts, 
so  frankly  recorded  of  him  by  that  primitive  and 
uncultivated  people  engrossed  in  superstitions, 
seems  to  antagonize  the  conception  of  an  omnis- 
cient being  by  any  sane  man  not  besotted  with  a 
faith  that  discards  reason  and  annihilates  com- 
mon sense. 

The  wars,  building  of  altars,  and  destruction  of 
nations,  recorded  in  the  Hebrew  Testament,  un- 

85 


of 


garnished  by  the  supernatural  and  divine  glamour, 
are  not  unnatural  events,  or  out  of  the  course  of 
human  effort  and  aspiration  in  an  early  and  uncul- 
tivated age,  whose  highest  attainment  was  clannish 
devotion.  The  most  noted  prophets  were  shrewd 
tacticians,  governing  by  their  power  to  utilize  the 
superstition  of  their  catechumens;  this  to  the  un- 
biassed critic  is  very  apparent;  their  policy  was 
sophistical,  and,  while  often  denunciatory,  it  was 
generally  used  to  conciliate  or  incite  their  adhe- 
rents to  some  valiant  or  desperate  act,  such  as 
Moslem  fatalists  sometimes  display.  In  certain 
cases  of  gross  wrong  they  became  the  champions 
of  the  right;  notably,  when  Nathan  reprimanded 
David,  which  required  some  courage,  as  the  mode 
of  delivering  it  evinced. 

The  prophecies  were  generally  written  after  the 
assumed  fulfilment  of  the  event,  and  were  often- 
times as  ambiguous  as  a  Delphic  oracle;  they 
have  been  received  with  as  great  faith,  and  as 
little  reason,  as  were  the  noted  sayings  of  the 
priestesses  of  that  marvellous  shrine.  This  is  not 
so  strange  when  we  see  at  the  present  day  a  belief 
in  the  fulfilment  of  dreams  and  prognostications, 
to  the  wonderment  of  the  superstitious,  who  ignore 
the  facts  of  science.  This  tendency  of  the  human 

86 


mind  is  taken  advantage  of  by  charlatans  and 
pretenders  in  their  various  callings,  while  many 
sincere  people  are  led  astray,  from  misreading  nat- 
ural phenomena:  this  appears  in  Christian  Sci- 
ence, palmistry,  reading  of  character,  conversing 
with  the  dead,  and  fortune-telling,  with  which  the 
world  is  teeming.  No  doubt  there  is  much  psy- 
chical and  mental  knowledge  yet  in  abeyance  for 
coming  science  to  analyze  and  explain,  but  the 
theories  of  mystics,  Gnostics,  theosophists,  and 
Mormons  are  the  offspring  of  mental  aberrations 
of  the  imagination  or  the  delusion  of  chicanery. 

If  the  maledictions  of  Ezekiel  are  not  magnified 
by  his  mysterious,  startling,  and  very  sensational 
vision,  the  Israelites  were  abnormally  depraved 
and  incorrigible,  far  exceeding  the  pagan  nations 
by  which  they  were  surrounded;  and  what  must 
strike  the  investigator  with  astonishment  is,  that 
the  sole  purpose  and  interest  of  the  Creator  was 
centred  in  this  contumacious  nation,  Tor  whom 
he  sought  to  destroy  the  rest  of  mankind,  who  were 
—  if  he  was  the  Creator  of  all  things  —  his  off- 
spring. 

There  were  so  many  so-called  prophets  among 
the  Israelites,  all  of  whom,  as  the  times  required, 
uttered  promises  and  denunciations,  cunningly  de- 

87 


of 


vised  to  incite  the  people  to  action,  this  had  an 
effect  on  that  superstitious  nation,  and  on  succeed- 
ing generations  of  more  enlightened  people,  who 
still  believe  in  their  inspiration.  But  as  we  grow 
more  enlightened  these  prophecies  are  losing  their 
force;  men  are  not  so  easily  duped  by  them;  yet 
we  have  monitions  now  and  then  that  men  of  credu- 
lous temperament  are  still  influenced  by  them,  al- 
though the  unwavering  light  of  science  is  gradually 
illuminating  the  world,  and  dispelling  the  ancient 
illusions. 

The  accumulated  wisdom  acquired  by  modern 
research,  utilized  by  ratiocination,  and  the  civiliza- 
tion attained  through  mental  acquirements  from 
earlier  ages,  has  been  improved  and  refined  by 
human  advancement  due  to  natural  causes,  con- 
stituting the  status  of  modern  culture;  while  a 
belief  in  the  supernatural  legends  of  antiquity  has 
generally  retarded  advancement,  by  stubborn  faith 
in  the  fabulous  chronicles  on  which  men  still  place 
reliance. 

The  story  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  is  handed 
down  to  modern  times  with  strained  and  varying 
interpretations,  in  the  effort  to  harmonize  it  with 
advancing  knowledge  and  to  identify  it  with  the 
unknown  cause  of  the  visible  creation,  although  its 

88 


Supernatural  (Zaiutpttous 

authors  had  no  conception  of  the  true  origin  of  the 
universe.  This  is  the  God  still  worshipped  as  an 
entity. 

The  legends  composing  the  Old  Testament  of 
the  Christian  Bible  we  have  briefly,  and  in  part 
only,  analyzed;  it  contains  many  moral  maxims, 
aphorisms,  precepts,  and  prophecies,  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Israelites  in  their  worship  and  social 
relations,  to  ensure  their  salvation,  similar  to  teach- 
ings found  in  all  the  ancient  religions. 

We  have  only  sought  to  show  the  mythological 
character  of  the  Jewish  God,  surrounded  by  hosts 
of  angels  and  spirits  serving  him  and  executing 
his  commands,  which  is  in  accord  with  most  of 
the  earlier  religions  that  personify  God  as  an  en- 
tity of  a  denned  form,  living  in  a  circumscribed 
heaven,  at  a  fixed  place,  attended  by  his  servitors. 

When  Ezra  returned  to  Jerusalem,  after  the 
captivity  in  Babylon,  he  undertook  the  restoration 
of  the  ancient  faith  of  the  Israelites.  He  found 
the  priests  and  people  had  married  with  neigh- 
boring nations,  and  had  children  by  their  wives; 
this  dereliction  from  Mosaic  law  he  at  once  made 
war  upon,  and  forced  them  to  abandon  their  wives 
and  children  that  were  not  of  God's  chosen  people, 
who  must  not  be  contaminated  with  Gentile  blood. 

89 


3TJ)e  ©rfflin  of 

This  is  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament  con- 
servators. 

In  the  foregoing  brief  epitome  of  the  Jewish 
Scriptures,  left  by  Ezra  and  others,  we  have  omitted 
many  incidents  showing  the  mundane  character 
of  the  God  of  Israel,  as  we  deem  a  further  illustra- 
tion unnecessary  to  establish  the  fact  that  he  should 
be  placed  in  the  category  of  the  other  mythological 
deities. 

The  story  related  of  Samuel  as  judge  in  Israel, 
who  with  reluctance  consented  to  appoint  a  king 
to  supersede  his  rule;  and  by  divine  guidance  he 
made  an  unpropitious  choice  in  Saul  for  king, 
whose  only  preeminence  seemed  to  have  been  his 
stature;  Saul  was  followed  by  David,  "a man  after 
God's  own  heart,"  whom  Saul  attempted  to  kill. 
David  in  youth  was  a  renowned  warrior.  His 
distinguishing  characteristic,  which  ingratiated  him 
with  God,  was  an  unbounded  capacity  for  wor- 
ship and  adulation,  exhibited  by  fanatical  hom- 
age. Before  he  came  to  the  throne  he  displayed 
many  traits  of  a  fanatical,  bold,  and  magnanimous 
warrior;  he  forbore  under  strong  provocation  to 
kill  Saul,  because  he  was  "the  Lord's  anointed;" 
he  possessed  great  power  for  political  intrigue  and 
finesse;  he  killed  Goliath  and  married  the  king's 

90 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

daughter ;    he  escaped  from  the  king's  wrath,  and 
avoided  killing  him  when  he  was  in  his  power. 

David  as  a  warrior  pursued  a  course  of  slaugh- 
ter, as  Joshua  had  done  before  him.  When  liv- 
ing with  the  Philistines,  after  flying  from  Judea, 
he  added  two  wives  to  his  harem,  to  replace  the 
king's  daughter,  who  had  been  taken  from  him. 
The  story  of  David,  like  that  of  Joshua,  might  have 
been  taken  from  that  nebulous  book  of  Jasher, 
which  would  account  for  the  superhuman  char- 
acter of  the  record.  David  was  made  King  of 
Judea  by  command  of  God,  and  King  of  Israel 
after  Saul's  death.  He  was  devout,  worshipping 
God  fantastically,  dancing  naked  before  the  Ark. 
He  debauched  Uriah's  wife,  and  then  tried  to  con- 
ceal his  iniquity  by  recalling  Uriah  home  to  father 
his  offspring;  but  Uriah  was  faithful  to  duty,  and 
the  nefarious  attempt  failed.  This  caused  David 
to  order  his  victim  slain  in  battle.  He  then  took 
the  woman  he  had  debauched,  and  whose  husband 
he  had  slain,  to  wife.  By  her  he  had  a  son,  who 
according  to  the  legend  was  the  wisest  man  in  Bib- 
lical history.  In  this  case  God  omitted  to  visit 
his  father's  sin  upon  him;  he  escaped  the  penalty 
through  God's  favoritism  in  condoning  his  father's 
foul  iniquity;  which  showed  that  immunity  may 


JSTJje  ©tiflin  of 

be  obtained  for  the  most  atrocious  crimes  by  ob- 
sequious worship  —  a  maxim  that  has  been  often 
followed  in  modern  life. 

Solomon,  notwithstanding  his  iniquitous  origin, 
prospered  beyond  all  the  other  Kings  of  Israel, 
and  has  come  down  to  us  not  only  in  Bible  tra- 
dition, but  in  Arabian  tales,  with  genii  and  afrites. 
In  Bible  tradition  Solomon  performed  many  nota- 
ble acts;  he  built  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  and 
beautified  the  city.  The  fame  of  his  wisdom  was 
ideal;  the  proverbs  attributed  to  him  rival  in  mag- 
nitude his  harem  with  its  seven  hundred  wives  — 
all  princesses  —  supplemented  by  three  hundred 
concubines;  an  even  thousand  in  all.  How  in- 
significant our  modern  Mormon  Saints  appear 
beside  this  multitudinous  polygamist,  endowed 
with  heavenly  wisdom,  under  the  special  favor 
and  approbation  of  the  God  of  Israel.  Among 
the  striking  instances  displaying  an  aberration  of 
the  imagination,  is  the  attributing  to  such  utter- 
ances as  are  found  in  the  second  chapter  of  Isaiah 
an  allusion  to  occurrences  in  after- ages  unwarrant- 
ably distorted  into  a  prophecy  foretelling  events 
that  were  for  that  purpose  made  to  correspond 
with  them,  and  the  result  of  their  coming.  The 
prophecy  in  the  fourth  chapter  has  never  been 

92 


Supernatural  eratutpttons 

fulfilled  —  perhaps  it  is  still  expected  to  be  after 
a  lapse  of  two  thousand  years;  if  any  reference 
to  the  coming  of  Christ  can  by  fanatical  imagina- 
tion be  connected  with  the  commencement  of  this 
prophecy,  the  conclusion  precludes  any  reliance 
upon  it;  there  has  never  been  an  abrogation  of 
natural  law,  or  a  gathering  of  the  Jews  as  predicted. 
It  must  be  a  vivid  imagination  derived  from  pre- 
conceived ideas  that  can  connect  a  "foundation- 
stone  in  Zion"  with  any  reference  to  Christ. 

The  rhapsodical  utterances  of  Isaiah  can  hardly 
be  accepted  as  a  prophecy  inspired,  with  nothing 
but  unwarranted  assumption  to  connect  it  with 
Christ.  Isaiah  was  a  Hebrew  believing  in  the  pre- 
dominating power  of  the  Hebrew  God  and  a  com- 
ing Messiah,  who  had  been  traditionally  promised 
them  to  elevate  their  race  to  power  as  his  chosen 
people,  to  rule  over  the  rest  of  mankind ;  all  of  which 
subsequent  history  has  dissipated. 

Jeremiah  prophesied  a  king  to  reign  over  his 
people  prosperously,  practising  judgment,  and  exe- 
cuting justice  righteously,  on  earth — "  and  in  his 
days  Judah  shall  be  saved,  and  Israel  shall  dwell 
safely."  This  evidently  means  the  gathering  of 
the  Jews  into  an  independent  nation;  which  has 
not  yet  taken  place,  nor  is  it  likely  to  hereafter. 

93 


of 


When  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  captivity  was 
promised  by  God,  according  to  the  record,  he  de- 
clared he  would  build  them  up  as  at  first  —  "In 
those  days  and  at  that  time,  will  I  cause  the  branch 
of  righteousness  to  grow  up  unto  David,  and  he 
shall  execute  judgment  and  righteousness  in  the 
land."  This  is  claimed  to  mean  Jesus,  but  he 
certainly  did  not  fulfil  the  prophecy. 

The  Rabbi  Joseph  Kranskopf  notes  this  at- 
tempted reference  of  Isaiah's  prophecies  to  the 
Gospels.  He  defines  prophet  to  mean,  in  Hebrew, 
speaker,  preacher,  pleader,  interpreter,  counsellor, 
admonisher,  poet,  rhapsodist. 

Dean  Stanley  says  that  down  to  the  seventeenth 
century,  prophecies  were  used  in  English  in  the 
sense  of  preaching  or  speaking;  "from  that  time 
they  acquired  the  Greek  meaning  of  foreseeing  or 
foretelling  future  events."  In  Biblical  times  that 
meaning  was  foreign. 

The  functions  of  Biblical  prophets  were  plainly 
those  of  preachers,  or  reformers  and  exhorters, 
and  of  statesmen  and  patriots.  They  were  the 
counsellors  of  kings  when  they  governed  justly, 
and  their  bitterest  opponents  when  they  tyrannized 
the  people.  They  were  coadjutors  of  priests  that 
ministered  righteously,  and  were  their  foes  when 

94 


Supernatural  (EonccjUions 

they  degraded  their  calling.  The  foreseeing  and 
foretelling  of  future  events  was  not  a  characteris- 
tic of  Biblical  prophets,  whose  foretelling  related 
to  things  in  the  immediate  future  and  in  no  case 
referred  to  remote  after-times;  they  were  often 
optimistic  utterances  of  their  authors  to  incite 
their  people  to  action.  There  is  no  historical  or 
logical  right  to  torture  the  words  of  Isaiah  into  a 
prophecy  of  something  to  happen  hundreds  of 
years  after  his  death.  They  could  not  possibly 
have  applied  to  any  other  events  save  such  as  took 
place  during,  or  prior  to  his  time,  or  expected  soon 
to  follow  as  logical  consequences  of  existing  states 
of  affairs,  or  as  sweet  dreams  or  fond  ideals. 

A  proper  answer  to  the  question,  as  to  what  the 
events  may  have  been  referred  to  by  Isaiah,  Rabbi 
Kranskopf  says,  necessitates  a  knowledge  of  the 
times,  and  that  as  the  Book  of  Isaiah  has  not  less 
than  two  authors  of  different  periods  to  which  it 
is  to  be  attributed,  they  were  a  century  apart,  — 
the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  periods.  Rabbi  Krans- 
kopf then  shows  that  Isaiah,  to  fortify  Ahaz  and 
reassure  the  cowardly  king,  says  the  child  soon  to 
be  born  of  a  young  woman  is  to  be  named  Immanuel 
(God  with  us),  "and  the  land  thou  abhorrest  shall 
be  forsaken  of  both  her  kings."  Such  is  the  true 

95 


of 


explanation  of  the  first  Messianic  prophecies;  the 
Hebrew  young  woman  being  translated  virgin. 
The  cognomen  Immanuel,  Christ  never  attained. 
The  other  prophecies  are  clearly  shown  to  refer 
to  historic  events  of  that  age,  having  no  relation  to 
the  subsequent  birth  of  Christ,  which  happened 
hundreds  of  years  afterward. 

The  rabbi  clearly  shows  that  the  prophecies 
quoted  in  the  New  Testament  from  the  Old,  and 
about  which  so  much  pains  was  taken  to  perform 
acts  to  "fulfil"  them,  in  no  way  relate  to  Jesus,  and 
can  by  no  possibility  be  connected  with  him.  (See 
Luke  22  :  36.) 

The  plain  story  of  this  nomadic  people  seems  to 
be,  that,  after  leaving  Egypt  (if  they  did  really  origi- 
nate there),  they  were  weak  in  numbers,  and  wan- 
dered in  sparsely  settled  countries,  and  they  grad- 
ally  multiplied  into  a  formidable  host.  As  they 
gained  strength  they  crowded  out  the  inhabitants 
of  more  populous  regions,  until  they  reached  Ca- 
naan, where,  as  we  have  related,  by  direction  of 
their  leaders,  they  attacked  the  inhabitants,  and 
barbarously  exterminated  them  under  the  assump- 
tion that  God  had  given  the  land  to  their  ancestor; 
and  they  took  possession  of  the  country  under 
that  nebulous  claim  upon  which  they  subsequently 

96 


shaped  their  legends.  After  these  wandering  tribes 
settled  in  Canaan,  they  consolidated  into  a  nation, 
and  conquered  other  people.  The  records  now 
called  Mosaic  were  compiled  subsequently  to  their 
" captivity"  in  after- times,  from  their  own  tradi- 
tions and  the  chronicles  of  their  captors  the  Baby- 
lonians, as  appears  from  discoveries  in  recent  years 
among  the  ruins  of  that  city,  in  which  is  found  the 
original  legend  of  creation  paraphrased  in  Genesis. 
A  survey  of  the  historical  facts  pertaining  to  the 
advent  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  and  its  tribal  rela- 
tions, shows  us  a  minor  people  surrounded  by 
nations  much  greater  and  more  advanced  in  cul- 
ture and  civilization;  which  eventually  lapsed  into 
an  appendage  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  owes 
its  prominence  in  modern  times  to  the  advent  of 
the  Christian  religion,  which  originated  in  it,  and 
attained  a  marvellous  power  in  the  decadence  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  that  has  dominated  the  most 
advanced  nations  of  the  present  day. 


97 


Ovfflfn  of 


CHAPTER  III. 

CHRIST'S  ADVENT  AND  MISSION 

SOME  nineteen  centuries  ago  we  find  the  Jews 
were  under  the  rule  of  a  Roman  governor,  with 
a  freedom  to  worship  their  God  that  was  accorded 
to  most  of  the  Roman  colonies  subject  to  its  domi- 
nation. The  Jews  had  previously,  as  we  have  seen, 
been  conquered  by  the  Babylonians,  with  whom 
they  lived  for  many  years  in  captivity,  and  had  free 
access  to  their  literature  and  records.  Of  these  the 
author,  collaborator,  or  editor  of  Genesis  availed 
himself  in  narrating  the  history  of  the  creation  of 
the  world,  which  so  closely  follows  the  Babylonian 
account  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  it  is  a  plagiarism 
from  that  source,  modified  to  suit  the  religious 
traditions  of  the  Jewish  hierarchy  of  five  or  six 
hundred  years  before. 

The  Pentateuch,  from  whatever  source  derived, 
and  however  compiled,  is  the  basis  upon  which 
the  New  Testament  rests;  it  is  constantly  referred 

98 


Supernatural  tironrqittans 

to  in  the  Gospels,  and  was  often  quoted  by  Christ 
and  his  followers  authoritatively.  With  this  fact 
determined,  we  have  examined  the  Gospels,  from 
which  we  have  endeavored  to  educe  a  rational  and 
consistent  life  of  Christ,  consonant  with  the  his- 
torical legend,  in  which  all  particulars  of  his  bel- 
ligerent acts  that  are  clearly  indicated  are  studiously 
omitted.  We  have  eliminated  the  miraculous  and 
supernatural  incidents,  of  which  there  is  no  evi- 
dence except  the  traditional  credence  of  his  fol- 
lowers, recorded  by  authors  unidentified  more 
than  a  century  after  the  events  narrated  had 
occurred. 

Among  the  Jewish  legends  there  was  a  tradi- 
tion that  a  Messiah  was  to  come  to  free  them  from 
all  evils.  The  title  of  Messiah  (anointed)  was 
applied  to  their  anointed  kings;  but  the  one  that 
was  to  come  was  to  be  transcendently  above  the 
others  in  power  and  glory.  The  prophecies  about 
this  coming  Messiah  were  uttered,  doubtlessly,  to 
keep  up  the  spirits  of  the  downtrodden  people. 
They  announced  the  coming  of  a  king  who  would 
be  to  the  Israelites  salvation,  freeing  them  from 
the  assaults  of  other  nations,  and  the  troubling  of 
the  wicked  within  their  community.  The  Messiah 
was  to  be  of  and  from  the  Jews,  and  was  to  in- 

99 


of 


augurate  a  nation  transcending  all  other  nations. 
This  tradition  engendered  several  claimants  from 
time  to  time,  the  most  conspicuous  of  whom,  so 
far  as  we  know,  was  Jesus  Christ,  whose  mission 
was  by  him  declared  to  be  to  the  Jews  alone  ;  under 
the  title  of  "King  of  the  Jews"  thus  appropriating 
all  the  Messianic  passages  in  the  Old  Testament 
recognizing  a  Messiah  as  referring  to  him,  for  which 
he  was  subsequently  deified  by  his  proselytes. 

All  that  we  know  of  the  life  of  Christ  is  contained 
in  the  New  Testament  ;  written  mostly  by  unknown 
authors,  whose  accounts  were  derived  from  the 
traditions  of  his  sectarian  followers.  They  cannot 
be  traced  back  to  an  earlier  date  than  about  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century  after  his  death; 
and  it  is  important  to  note  here  that  no  allusion  to 
the  life  of  Christ  is  found  in  any  contemporaneous 
record,  or  any  mention  of  abnormal  or  miraculous 
phenomena  that  took  place  in  the  vicinity  of  Jeru- 
salem during  his  life,  or  at  his  death  ;  and  it  is  sig- 
nificant that  all  the  adverse  writings  of  subsequent 
times  down  to  a  recent  period  have  been  ruthlessly 
destroyed.  So  significant  was  this  fact  deemed  to 
be,  that,  in  after-time,  several  clumsy  forgeries  were 
perpetrated  by  monks  of  the  middle  ages,  notably 
those  attributed  to  Pliny  the  Younger,  and  Josephus  ; 

IOO 


Supernatural 


but  the  frauds  have  been  noticed  and  exposed  by 
modern  critics. 

There  is  a  variant  relation  of  the  advent  of  Christ 
in  the  different  Gospels  which,  as  we  are  dealing 
with  the  assumption  of  the  supernatural,  it  be- 
hooves us  to  strictly  analyze.  In  Matthew  it  is 
stated  that  after  Mary  was  espoused  to  Joseph  she 
was  found  with  child,  which  caused  Joseph  to 
determine  to  put  her  away  privately,  not  to  expose 
her;  but  he  had  a  dream  in  which  an  angel  as- 
sured him  the  Holy  Ghost  was  the  father,  and  she 
was  pure.  Joseph  was  told  to  call  her  son  Jesus, 
and  that  he  would  save  the  people  from  their  sins. 
Now  all  this  was  done,  the  Gospel  says,  that  the 
saying  of  a  prophet  might  be  fulfilled;  in  other 
words,  this  was  done  to  fulfil  a  prophecy,  although 
the  prophet  referred  to  called  him  Emmanuel. 

In  Luke  we  are  told  Gabriel  the  angel  appeared 
to  Mary,  and  told  her  the  son  she  would  conceive 
should  be  called  Jesus.  He  further  told  her  he 
should  be  great  and  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest, 
who  would  give  him  the  throne  of  his  father  David 
(evidently  a  temporal  throne),  and  '  '  he  shall  reign 
over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever;"  "and  of  his 
kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end."  (This  prophecy, 
history  shows  us,  has  not  been  fulfilled.)  After 
101 


(Drtfliu  of 

this    Mary    assented    to   the    proposition    of    the 
angel. 

Mark  and  John  fail  to  relate  this  miraculous 
conception,  which  closely  accords  with  the  story 
of  the  advent  of  Buddha  and  of  Krishna,  told 
ages  before,  as  we  learn  from  recorded  history. 

The  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  being  probably  the 
most  authoritative  version  of  the  current  legends 
of  the  history  of  Christ,  and  in  nearest  accord  with 
the  earliest  traditions,  we  shall  follow  it  gen- 
erally in  our  exposition  of  his  life  and  acts. 

According  to  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  Jesus 
Christ  was  the  son  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews 
(although  he  always  declared  himself  to  be  "the 
Son  of  Man").  He  was  circumcised  and  educated 
as  a  Jew,  and  accepted  Jewish  traditions  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  as  a  divinely  instituted  author- 
ity. 

Christ's  genealogy  is  traced  in  Matthew's  Gospel 
from  David  down  to  Joseph  (the  husband  of  Mary, 
Christ's  mother),  through  whom  he  derived  his 
pedigree  as  "son  of  David,"  while  the  Gospel  de- 
clares him  to  be  the  supernatural  son  of  God,  con- 
ceived by  Mary  while  a  virgin.  After  his  birth, 
we  are  told,  his  life  was  sought  by  Herod,  resulting 
in  a  slaughter  of  children  to  destroy  him. 

102 


(Conceptions 


These  incidents  are  an  apparent  plagiarism  from 
the  tradition  of  Buddha,  written  centuries  before 
Christ's  birth,  and  well  known  at  that  time  through- 
out the  East.  Apart  from  the  plagiarism,  it  is 
more  than  doubtful  if  a  Roman  ruler  would  have 
issued  such  a  monstrous  and  senseless  edict,  of 
which  there  is  no  mention  made  in  Roman  or  Jew- 
ish history.  This  shows  the  nebulous  character  of 
the  entire  record.  It  is  obvious  that  the  only  com- 
petent human  witness  for  the  miraculous  concep- 
tion was  Mary,  from  whom  there  is  no  direct  tes- 
timony; but  she  repeatedly  called  Joseph  Christ's 
father,  while  he  invariably  called  himself  the  "Son 
of  Man."  We  leave  this  enigma  for  the  theolo- 
gians to  explain.1 

There  is  nothing  marvellous  or  unusual  related 
in  any  accredited  life  of  Christ  up  to  his  thirtieth 
year,  during  which  time  he  seems  to  have  lived  in 
unrecorded  obscurity  This  is  a  strange  hiatus 
in  the  life  of  "the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,"  sent 

1  The  life  of  Christ,  shorn  of  its  supernatural  embellishments, 
shows  a  being  full  of  the  characteristics  of  humanity,  and  many 
of  its  weaknesses,  with  a  knowledge  only  commensurate  with  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.  His  moral  teachings  were,  as  recorded, 
similar  to  those  of  earlier  sages,  many  of  whose  aphorisms  were 
attributed  to  him,  such  as  the  Golden  Rule  of  Confucius,  uttered 
centuries  before  his  birth. 

103 


of 


into  the  world  as  the  only  Saviour  of  men  !  It  was 
a  long  period  of  preparation  compared  with  the 
time  employed  by  him  in  active  labors  that  ended 
his  career. 

Tradition  says  he  was  born  during  a  journey  of 
his  parents,  in  Bethlehem,  in  accordance  with  an 
ancient  prophecy.  There  was  nothing  abnormal 
in  his  gestation  or  parturition.  He  came  into  the 
world  a  helpless  infant,  was  nursed  by  his  mother, 
and  grew  from  infancy  to  maturity  by  the  slow 
process  of  human  development,  in  which  only  a 
single  episode  is  recorded,  —  that  of  talking  with 
the  doctors  in  the  Temple.  This  was  not  a  re- 
markable incident  in  the  life  of  a  precocious  boy. 
On  that  occasion,  the  legend  says,  when  his  parents 
missed  him  and  returned  in  search  of  him,  they 
found  him  in  the  Temple,  sitting  with  the  doctors, 
hearing  them,  and  asking  them  questions;  which 
it  is  related  astonished  them  by  his  understand- 
ing and  answers.  As  this  was  the  first  demonstra- 
tion of  his  intellect,  it  would  have  been  transcen- 
dently  valuable  to  have  a  record  of  his  sayings  on 
that  notable  occasion,  on  which  there  was  an  op- 
portunity to  announce  his  vocation  and  divine 
afflatus,  that  would  have  indicated  his  future  career 
as  "  Messiah  "  and  "King  of  the  Jews."  He  made 

104 


Supernatural  <£ancrj)tian& 

no  announcement  there  of  his  Messianic  mission 
or  future  teaching.  Beyond  the  capacity  of  a  pre- 
cocious boy  nothing  appears  in  this  incident. 

When  he  was  found  by  his  parents,  he  expressed 
no  regret  for  their  anxiety,  but  asked  why  they 
sought  him,  saying,  "Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be 
about  my  father's  business?"  (We  have  no  rec- 
ord that  he  was  ever  about  it  afterward  until  he 
was  thirty  years  old.)  His  parents  did  not  commend 
his  mystical  excuse,  notwithstanding  their  assumed 
knowledge  of  his  divine  origin.  Although  this  in- 
cident is  made  an  important  factor  by  Biblicists, 
in  proof  of  his  divinity,  the  result  on  that  occasion 
was  a  reproof  from  his  mother,  "Son,  why  hast 
thou  dealt  so  with  us?  behold,  thy  father  and  I 
have  sought  thee  sorrowing."  Mary  always  spoke 
of  Joseph  as  the  father  of  Christ,  who  was  circum- 
cised under  Jewish  law,  and  brought  up  with  the 
rest  of  Mary's  children  in  the  family  of  Joseph, 
without  any  noticeable  distinction.  He  was  known 
in  Nazareth  as  the  son  of  Joseph,  and  it  is  nowhere 
recorded  that  Joseph  or  Mary  ever  announced  him 
to  be  of  superhuman  origin  during  his  youth,  or 
afterward;  nor  does  it  appear  that  the  people  of 
Nazareth  ever  entertained  such  an  idea,  or  knew 
anything  of  his  miraculous  conception,  or  the  won- 


of 


ders  related  of  his  birth  which,  if  they  had  occurred, 
they  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of.  When  the 
father  and  mother  of  Jesus  found  him  in  the  Temple, 
and  he  had  given  a  reason  that  they  did  not  approve 
for  his  escapade,  they  took  him  home  with  them, 
"and  he  was  subject  unto  them."  Whether  this 
means  that  they  chastised  him  for  the  trouble  and 
anxiety  he  had  subjected  them  to,  or  not,  must  be 
left  to  conjecture,  aided  by  a  knowledge  of  the 
customs  of  those  times.  It  is  certain  we  have  no 
account  of  his  ever  repeating  the  offence  again,  how- 
ever pressing  he  conceived  his  father's  business 
to  have  been. 

From  the  historical  incidents  recorded  hi  the  Gos- 
pels, there  seems  to  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
at  the  beginning  of  his  public  career  Christ  en- 
deavored to  incite  the  Jews  into  rebellion,  under  the 
guise  of  the  traditional  Messiah  that  was  expected 
to  emancipate  them,  and  establish  them  in  an  in- 
dependent kingdom.  In  this  enterprise  he  was  aided 
by  his  cousin,  John  the  Baptist,  who  appeared  in 
a  unique  garb,  feeding  on  primitive  food,  to  rouse 
the  superstitious  people  into  a  crusade  that  alarmed 
the  authorities.  These  relatives,  Jesus  and  John, 
obviously  acted  in  unison  on  a  preconcerted  plan, 
and  followed  out  a  similar  line  of  policy;  first 

106 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

gathering  the  people  together,  under  the  assump- 
tion that  John  was  the  forerunner,  to  announce 
the  advent  of  their  expected  Messiah.  John  gath- 
ered a  multitude  of  people  from  all  the  country 
round  about  Jordan,  baptizing  those  who  believed 
the  "kingdom  of  heaven"  was  to  be  established, 
with  the  coming  Messiah  as  the  ' '  King  of  the 
Jews." x  During  this  initiatory  movement,  Jesus 
appeared,  and  was  baptized.  At  this  time  he  had 
a  vision,  serving  to  confirm  their  neophytes  in 
the  belief  that  he  was  the  Messiah  that  the 
prophecies  foretold  would  appear  to  liberate 
them. 

But  the  time  had  not. come  for  Jesus  to  act,  so 
he  retired  for  a  season,  while  John  continued  his 
propaganda.  It  is  related  that  Christ  then  went 
into  the  wilderness,  to  be  tempted  by  the  devil, 
the  reason  for  which  is  not  apparent.  It  is  certain 
the  fiend  proved  very  inadequate  and  short-sighted 
if  an  entity;  but  if  a  figure  of  speech,  to  indicate 
Christ's  mental  state  at  that  time,  the  incident  illus- 
trates his  very  human  proclivity,  with  aspirations 
for  power  and  glory  that  may  have  disturbed  his 
meditations,  as  he  was  about  to  assume  the  r6le 

1  Baptizing  was  evidently  a  mode  of  pledging  the  people  to 
fight  for  Jesus  to  make  him  king. 

107 


of 


of  "King  of  the  Jews."  Either  way,  he  had  the 
resolution  to  repel  the  temptation,  and  a  careful 
forbearance  to  abstain  from  an  acrobatic  leap,  in 
the  fallacious  expectation  of  being  borne  up  by 
angels. 

At  first  the  mission  of  these  religionary-  polit- 
ical leaders  was  exclusively  to  the  Jews;  and  not 
until  later  and  more  disastrous  times  was  there  an 
inclusion  of  other  people  by  his  followers.  After 
John  and  Jesus  succeeded  in  collecting  thousands 
of  followers,  Jesus  admonished  them  to  be  ready 
to  suffer  all  things,  and  lay  down  their  lives  in 
his  cause,  assuring  them  that  they  would  thus 
secure  eternal  happiness,  while  a  failure  to  act 
would  involve  them  in  everlasting  misery. 

After  John  the  Baptist  was  beheaded,  Christ  fled 
away  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  avoiding  Nazareth, 
where  he  might  have  been  traced;  he  thus  escaped 
a  like  fate.  He  continued  organizing  his  proselytes, 
and  chose  twelve  disciples.  He  then  preached  the 
''kingdom  of  heaven"  about  to  be  established, 
which  he  taught  in  the  synagogues  of  all  Galilee, 
1  'and  great  multitudes  followed  him  from  Galilee, 
Jerusalem,  Judea,  Decapolis,  and  beyond  Jordan." 
This  organized  army  of  adherents  he  addressed,  as 
we  have  seen,  on  a  mountain,  where  they  were  gath- 

108 


Supernatural  (Conceptions 

ered  into  companies;  and  he  instructed  them,  as  is 
recorded  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  Matthew. 

In  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  delivered  to  a  host 
about  to  follow  him  to  Jerusalem,  Christ  tells  them 
it  is  blessed  to  be  meek,  submissive,  and  enduring, 
for  his  sake,  for  which  they  will  be  richly  rewarded. 
He  admonishes  them  that  they  must  act,  to  be  effi- 
cient. He  denies  the  imputation  that  he  has  come 
to  destroy  the  Mosaic  law  (this  would  be  meaning- 
less if  he  was  not  engaged  in  a  war  against  the  rul- 
ing powers).  Knowing  his  followers  were  Jews 
who  believed  in  the  law,  which  they  would  not  help 
destroy,  he  endeavored  to  amplify  it,  declaring, 
in  an  extravagant  figure  of  speech,  that  heaven  and 
earth  should  pass  away  before  any  portion  of  the 
law  should  pass.  He  exhorts  his  followers  to  be 
meek,  humble,  and  obedient,  living  in  harmony  and 
avoiding  litigation.  In  hyperbolic  language,  he 
enjoins  non-resistance  of  injury,  with  an  anomalous 
admonition  to  pluck  out  an  eye,  and  cut  off  a  hand, 
if  it  offends.  No  normal  man  of  to-day  believes  in 
non-resistance  of  evil,  or  submission  to  injury.  That 
injunction  was  evidently  a  temporary  admonition, 
to  keep  his  ignorant  and  unruly  followers  from  en- 
gaging in  contention,  to  the  detriment  of  the  cause 
in  which  they  were  engaged.  While  there  are 

109 


doubtless  some  moral  aphorisms  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  it  was  evidently  not  intended  for  gen- 
eral application,  but  was  addressed  to  a  rude  army 
about  to  engage  in  a  religious  war.  His  purpose 
was  evidently  to  inculcate  strict  obedience  and  fidel- 
ity to  his  cause,  with  the  fear  of  hell-fire  for  dere- 
liction, and  to  prepare  them  for  a  conflict  that  was 
about  to  be  initiated.  It  is  addressed  to  an  igno- 
rant host,  and  is  filled  with  advice  as  to  their  con- 
duct in  trying  times,  soon  to  take  place,  tempered 
with  a  little  wholesome  flattery,  and  with  strenu- 
ous admonition  and  command,  to  prevent  their  get- 
ting into  quarrels  that  would  divert  them  from  the 
main  purpose  of  establishing  his  kingdom.  He 
charges  them  to  take  no  thought  for  the  morrow, 
for  they  would  be  taken  care  of,  and  could  supply 
their  wants  by  taking  the  godsends.  He  taught 
them  strict  obedience  to  his  commands,  and  encour- 
aged them  by  declaring  that  those  who  obey  and  do 
will  be  rewarded;  while  those  who  merely  say  to 
him,  "Lord!  Lord!"  and  do  not  act,  he  will  not 
recognize  or  receive  into  his  "kingdom  of  heaven," 
to  be  established. 

In  sending  out  his  disciples  to  obtain  recruits,  he 
cautions  them  not  to  go  to  the  Gentiles,  but  "to 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."    The  Gen- 
no 


(Conceptions 

tiles  were  evidently  beyond  the  purpose  of  his  mis- 
sion as  "King  of  the  Jews."  His  constant  injunc- 
tions of  secrecy  were  frequent  and  suggestive  for 
war;  otherwise  they  were  meaningless.  To  carry 
out  his  secret  instructions,  he  says,  "What  I  tell 
you  in  the  darkness,  that  speak  ye  in  the  light ;  and 
what  ye  hear  in  the  ear,  that  preach  ye  on  the  house- 
tops." 

All  mention  is  carefully  avoided  in  the  Gospels 
of  any  warlike  deeds  which  were  unsuccessful;  but 
John  was  apprehended  and  cast  into  prison  for  his 
demonstrations,  the  assumed  cause  for  which  is 
not  very  rational,  —  a  belligerent  intent  is  more 
probable.  It  is  obvious  that  Jesus  Christ  and  John 
the  Baptist  were  striving  to  establish  a  "kingdom 
of  heaven,"  with  Christ  as  the  promised  "Messiah  " 
and  "King  of  the  Jews"  which  tradition  foretold. 
From  the  declarations  of  Christ  we  learn  that  he 
was  only  sent  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel, 
and  the  belligerency  of  his  mission  and  the  uncom- 
promising warfare  in  which  he  told  his  followers  he 
was  about  to  engage  are  clearly  set  forth  by  him. 
He  says, ' f  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace 
on  earth :  I  am  not  come  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword. 
For  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  with  his 
father,  and  the  daughter  against  her  mother,  and 

in 


of 


the  daughter-in-law  against  her  mother-in-law;  and 
a  man's  foes  shall  be  those  of  his  own  household." 
"He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me 
is  not  worthy  of  me."  And  he  declares  that  he  who 
stands  by  him  "shall  in  no  wise  lose  his  reward." 
Can  there  be  a  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  this  is  a  war- 
like speech  to  an  army  of  followers  about  to  fight 
to  make  him  "  King  of  the  Jews?"  In  addressing 
his  followers  on  that  occasion,  he  strenuously  ex- 
horts them  to  action,  depicting  the  dangers  they 
are  to  meet  in  the  coming  contest,  charging  them 
to  be  valorous,  and  threatening  them  with  terrific 
penalties  if  they  evaded  their  duty.  He  says  to  them, 
"Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,,  but  are  not 
able  to  destroy  the  soul;  but  rather  fear  him  who 
is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell." 
That  this  host  was  to  be  armed  is  clearly  shown 
by  Christ's  injunction  to  sell  even  their  garments, 
if  necessary,  to  purchase  a  sword.  (Luke  22  :  36.) 
He  also  declared  (Luke  14:  26),  "If  any  mari 
come  to  me,  and  hate  not  his  father,  and  mother, 
and  wife,  and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters, 
yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple. 
And  whosoever  does  not  bear  his  cross,1  and  come 

1  It  is  evident  that  Christ  did  not  at  that  time  use  the  word 
cross,  as  it  did  not  then  signify  the  symbolical  meaning  given  to 

112 


Supernatural  @oncej)tfons 

after  me,  cannot  be  my  disciple."  ' '  Whosoever  he 
be  of  you  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath,  can- 
not be  my  disciple."1  At  this  time  of  turbulent 
activity,  Christ  had  to  check  the  aspiring  bickerings 
and  jealousies  of  his  disciples  respecting  their  status 
in  the  kingdom  about  to  be  inaugurated.  In  this 
he  used  finesse,  making  obedience,  with  humble  and 
diligent  servitude,  the  acme  of  merit.  When  his 
disciples  asked  what  position  they  were  to  have  in 
his  kingdom,  he  disclaimed  the  power  to  decide 
upon  their  relative  claims  to  promotion,  which  he 
declared  was  the  province  of  his  Father  in  heaven,  — 
well  out  of  their  reach. 

When  he  gave  command  to  the  host  under  him 
to  move  on  to  the  invasion  of  Jerusalem,  a  disciple 
said  to  him,  "Lord,  suffer  me  first  to  go  and  bury 

it  after  his  crucifixion,  by  the  Gospel  writers.  The  unlearned 
multitude  he  was  addressing  on  the  mountain  would  not  have 
understood  a  metaphorical  allusion.  Christ's  injunction,  no 
doubt,  was,  to  arm  themselves  for  an  entrance  with  him  into 
Jerusalem  and  the  Temple  where  he  was  about  to  lead  them. 
The  word  cross  was  undoubtedly  used  in  the  Gospel  for  arms, 
to  disguise  the  belligerent  character  of  that  expedition  which 
terminated  so  disastrously. 

1  Much  as  these  passages  have  been  distorted  into  a  spiritual 
meaning,  they  are  a  blunt  declaration  that  his  followers  are  to 
fight  in  his  undertaking  to  make  him  "  King  of  the  Jews  "  and 
establish  a  "  kingdom  of  heaven  "  in  Jerusalem.  His  followers 
were  too  ignorant  to  appreciate  spiritual  teaching. 


of 


my  father,"  but  Jesus  said  to  him,  "  Follow  me,  and 
let  the  dead  bury  their  dead."  This  most  unfeeling 
answer  could  only  have  been  made  by  a  commander 
at  a  strenuous  time  for  immediate  action,  as  it  would 
otherwise  have  been  barbarous,  senseless,  and  use- 
lessly cruel  if  uttered  in  a  time  of  peace,  while  it 
involved  an  absurd  impossibility. 

With  an  army  of  followers  Christ  started  from 
Jericho  for  Jerusalem.  They  were  enthusiastic  in 
the  belief  that  he  was  the  promised  Messiah,  and 
that  he  would  become  the  King  of  the  Jews.  As 
they  approached  the  city,  in  order  to  enter  it  in 
greater  state,  he  was  mounted  on  an  ass,  on  which 
garments  of  his  followers  were  laid;  and  in  their 
enthusiasm,  they  threw  down  their  clothing  for  him 
to  ride  over,  strewing  branches  also  in  the  way. 
'  '  And  the  multitudes  that  went  before,  and  followed, 
cried,  saying,  Hosanna  to  the  son  of  David  !  Blessed 
is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  !  Ho- 
sanna in  the  highest  !  And  when  he  was  come  into 
Jerusalem,  all  the  city  was  moved,  saying,  Who  is 
this  ?  "  (Showing  the  raid  was  unexpected  by  the 
people  of  Jerusalem.)  And  his  followers  said, 
'  '  This  is  Jesus,  the  prophet  of  Nazareth  !  And 
Jesus  went  [with  his  host]  into  the  Temple  of  God, 
and  cast  out  all  them  that  sold  and  bought  in  the 

114 


Supernatural 

Temple,  and  overthrew  the  tables."1  When  the 
chief  priests  and  scribes  saw  this  incursion  of  a 
fanatical  host  upon  the  Temple,  they  were  alarmed 
and  displeased;  and  they  asked  Jesus  if  he  heard 
the  cries,  ' '  Hosanna  for  the  Son  of  David,"  and  he 
answered,  "Yea,"  and  said  the  stones  would  cry 
out  if  they  did  not,  showing  his  full  assent  to  the 
demonstration,  which  was  clearly  a  usurpation  of 
authority  by  force  of  arms;  very  unlike  the  r6le  of 
the  Prince  of  Peace. 

He  did  not  remain  in  that  dangerous  position 
overnight,  but  drew  off  and  went  out  to  Bethany, 
returning  the  next  day,  at  which  time  a  miracle  is 
introduced  on  the  way,  denoting  his  impetuosity  of 
character,  that  was  also  displayed  elsewhere,  espe- 
cially under  a  triumphal  achievement.  He  went  to 
gather  figs  from  a  tree  by  the  wayside,  but  finding 
no  fruit  on  it,  he,  being  hungry,  was  evidently  dis- 
appointed and  angry,  so  he  vented  his  wrath  upon 
the  unfortunate  tree,  condemning  it  to  perpetual 
barrenness ;  and  the  tree  died.  The  senseless  char- 
acter of  this  miracle  does  not  seem  to  impress  the 

fThe  assumption  has  been  that  Christ  alone,  by  his  own 
puissance,  drove  out  the  occupants  of  the  Temple,  as  is  indi- 
cated in  the  fabulous  Gospel  of  John,  which  version  is  evidently 
chimerical.  He  was  backed  by  an  army  of  followers,  too  strong 
to  be  resisted  at  that  time  by  the  authorities. 


of 


modern  theologians,  or  to  detract  from  the  as- 
sumption of  Christ's  divine  perfection.  He  assured 
his  followers  they  could  not  only  do  the  like,  but 
remove  mountains  and  cast  them  into  the  sea,  if 
they  had  faith  and  doubted  not.1  What  this  had  to 
do  with  the  mission  of  a  redeemer  of  men's  souls, 
or  a  divine  instructor,  must  be  left  to  men  more 
profound  in  casuistry  than  we  pretend  to  be  for  a 
solution.  When  Jesus  again  took  possession  of  the 
Temple,  surrounded  by  his  followers,  the  chief 
priests  and  elders  came  to  him  and  asked  by  what 
authority  he  thus  invaded  the  Temple,  and  who 
gave  him  authority  to  do  so?  To  this,  as  he  was 
backed  by  a  formidable  multitude,  he  refused  to 
give  an  answer,  which  they,  as  custodians  of  the 
Temple,  had  a  right  to  demand. 

The  length  of  time  that  he  kept  possession  of  the 
Temple  is  not  stated,  but  he  held  forth  there  for 
some  time,  during  which  he  uttered  virulent  philip- 
pics against  the  Pharisees,  while  he  bid  his  followers 
to  observe  and  do  what  they  taught  (well  knowing 
that  they  taught  the  Mosaic  law).  He  adjures 
them  not  to  follow  their  acts,  which  were  opposed  to 
his  assumptions.  His  warfare  against  the  Phari- 
sees and  scribes,  his  strongest  opponents,  was  very 

A  very  pertinent  if. 

116 


Conceptions 


bitter;  as  well  as  against  the  priests  of  the  Temple, 
who  all  repudiated  his  claim  to  the  Messiahship, 
well  knowing  the  danger  of  such  a  rising  against 
Roman  authority. 

The  maledictions  that  he  hurled  at  those  in 
authority  and  all  others  that  opposed  him,  show 
a  vindictive  spirit,  hardly  in  accordance  with  a 
Saviour  of  souls  preaching  peace  and  forgiveness 
of  enemies.  We  have  seen  that  spirit  indicated  in 
the  destruction  of  the  fig-tree,  and  in  his  repri- 
mand of  Peter;  it  was  dangerous  to  thwart  him 
in  anything.  There  is  no  account  of  the  expulsion 
of  Jesus  with  his  followers  from  the  Temple;  but 
that  they  were  driven  out  as  soon  as  the  authori- 
ties obtained  a  force  sufficient  to  expel  them,  is 
clearly  indicated  in  the  sequel.  Before  he  left, 
his  lamentations  were  very  great;  he  threatened 
doom  to  Jerusalem  for  its  bloodshed  and  a  destruc- 
tion of  the  Temple.  While  he  "would  have  gath- 
ered her  children  as  a  hen  gathers  her  chickens 
under  her  wing/'  he  tells  them,  "Ye  shall  not  see 
me  henceforth,  till  ye  shall  say,  Blessed  is  he  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  He  said  also, 
"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  all  these  things  shall 
come  upon  this  generation."  While  history 
has  shown  these  statements  to  have  been  erro- 

117 


of 


neous,  they  coincide  with  the  character  of   their 
author. 

In  whatever  way  his  retreat  from  the  Temple, 
and  from  Jerusalem,  may  have  been  effected,  we 
next  find  him  hidden  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  and 
his  army  of  followers  dispersed;  there  his  disciples 
came  to  him  privately  to  learn  when  all  the  things 
he  had  told  about  should  come  to  pass  ;  what  would 
be  the  sign  of  his  coming,  and  the  end  of  the  world. 
Instead  of  a  categorical  answer,  he  tells  them  not 
to  be  deceived  or  troubled  when  they  hear  of  wars, 
and  nation  rising  against  nation,  as  those  things 
must  come  to  pass;  with  famine,  pestilences,  and 
earthquakes  in  divers  places  ;  '  '  then  they  shall 
deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted,  and  shall  kill  you, 
and  you  shall  be  hated  of  all  nations  for  my  name's 
sake,  but  he  that  shall  endure  unto  the  end  shall 
be  saved."  "When  ye  shall  see  the  abomination 
of  desolation,  spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet, 
stand  in  the  holy  place,  then  let  them  which  be  in 
Judea  flee  into  the  mountains,  let  him  in  the  field 
not  turn  back  to  take  his  clothes;  woe  to  all  that 
are  not  able  to  go,  but  pray  ye  your  x  flight  be  not 
in  the  winter;  for  then  shall  be  great  tribulation, 

1  The  italicized  pronouns  show  that  his  auditors  were  to  wit- 
ness all  this  while  living. 

118 


Sujpmtatuval  CTancrjmous 

such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world 
to  this  time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be."  He  warns  them 
not  to  be  deceived  by  false  Christs ;  he  tells  them 
that  on  his  coming  "the  sun  and  moon  will  be 
darkened,  and  the  stars  shall  fall"  etc.,  "and  the 
heavens  be  shaken."  (This  clearly  proves  that 
Christ  was  ignorant  of  the  organization  of  the 
universe.) 

He  concludes  by  averring,  "Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  this  generation  shall  not  pass,  till  all  these 
times  be  fulfilled."  "Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away."  He 
tells  them  that  no  one  knows  when  this  is  to  hap- 
pen but  his  Father  only  (this  relieved  him  from  set- 
ting a  time  and  clearly  shows  his  inferiority  to  his 
Father),  but  it  would  be  before  that  generation 
should  pass  away.  He  cautions  them  to  watch  vigi- 
lantly, and  be  ready,  "for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye 
think  not  the  Son  of  Man  cometh."  It  is  evident 
that  at  this  time  disaster  had  come  upon  him; 
his  followers  had  left  him,  and  his  disciples  came 
to  him  privately  to  learn  when  the  aid  from  heaven 
that  he  had  been  promising  them  would  come. 
He  evades  the  question  by  saying  his  Father  in 
heaven  alone  knows,  and  he  does  not  know,  but  it 
will  all  take  place  during  their  lifetime;  and  then 

119 


of 


he  expatiates  on  his  advent  in  the  clouds,  with 
lightnings,  and  a  blotting  out  of  the  sun  and  the 
moon,  accompanied  by  a  shower  of  stars;  pyro- 
technic phenomena  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts 
of  his  adversaries,  and  display  his  omnipotence 
to  his  followers. 

At  that  time  he  evidently  saw  his  cause  had 
failed,  and  that  his  life  was  in  peril;  but  he  still 
determined  to  keep  up  the  illusion  with  his  followers 
to  the  last.  Unfortunately  for  him,  while  he  and 
John  had  great  proselyting  powers,  they  neither 
of  them  possessed  the  talent  or  following  of  a  Mo- 
hammed, Alexander,  or  Napoleon,  with  their  able 
generals.  While  in  his  retreat  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  he  knew  he  would  not  be  arrested  on  the 
Feast  of  the  Passover,  so  he  ventured  into  Jerusa- 
lem with  his  disciples  to  keep  that  feast,  in  accord- 
ance with  his  Jewish  training.  Judas,  who  had 
been  bribed  to  aid  in  his  arrest,  was  with  them  at 
the  celebration  of  the  Passover.  After  the  supper, 
and  their  retreat  into  hiding,  he,  well  knowing  their 
place  of  refuge,  guided  an  armed  posse  to  their 
haunt  to  arrest  Jesus.  This  shows  two  important 
facts:  that  he  was  hiding  from  the  officers  of  the 
law,  and  was  without  sufficient  force  to  resist  them. 
When  Christ  was  taken  into  custody,  after  some 
120 


Supernatural  eanttptf  aug 

attempt  at  resistance  by  his  followers,  he  was 
brought  before  the  high  priest,  evidently  for  his 
taking  forcible  possession  of  the  Temple;  but  as 
the  Jews  had  no  power  to  punish  him,  he  was 
turned  over  to  the  Roman  authorities,  on  the  graver 
charge  of  assuming  to  be  the  "  King  of  the  Jews," 
about  which  the  account  says  there  was  much 
false  swearing,  but  Jesus  acknowledged  the  charge. 
For  that  crime,  as  it  was  deemed,  he  was  executed ; 
and,  that  there  should  be  no  misunderstanding 
about  the  reason  for  his  punishment,  Pilate  caused 
it  to  be  blazoned  upon  his  cross  in  three  languages, 
—  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  —  ' '  This  is  Jesus, 
the  King  of  the  Jews."  Thus  ended  the  visible  ca- 
reer of  the  man  that  his  followers  afterward  deified, 
and  worshipped  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  subse- 
quently as  one  of  the  paradoxical  triune  Godhead. 


121 


of 


CHAPTER  IV. 
CHRIST'S  CHARACTER  AND  PARABLES 

CHRIST,  who  it  is  assumed  descended  from  David 
through  Joseph,  the  husband  of  his  mother,  whom 
she  called  his  father,  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  cir- 
cumcised Jew,  and  lived  in  his  parents'  family 
with  his  brothers  and  sisters;  no  notable  differ- 
ence was  recorded  of  him  until  he  was  about  thirty 
years  old,  and  there  was  no  rumor  in  Nazareth 
of  his  miraculous  birth;  nor  did  Mary  or  Joseph 
proclaim  it.  When  he  announced  himself  as  the 
1  'Messiah"  and  "King  of  the  Jews,"  neither  his 
father  nor  mother,  brothers  nor  sisters,  joined  his 
crusade;  nor  did  they  ever  after  aid  him  in  his 
mission.  Not  only  did  his  family  disapprove  of 
his  course,  and  that  of  John  the  Baptist,  by  keep- 
ing aloof  from  them,  but  his  mother  and  brethren 
sought  to  dissuade  him  at  the  height  of  his  ambi- 
tious career,  and  were  repudiated  by  him,1  as  we 
have  seen. 

'Matt.  12,  v.  47,  etseq. 
122 


Supernatural  CToucqmous 

There  is  perhaps  no  clearer  proof  against  the 
divinity  of  Christ  than  the  fact  that  his  mother 
never  aided  him  by  her  presence,  or  declared  her 
belief  in  his  divine  mission,1  which  was  clearly 
repudiated  by  his  whole  family;  this  caused  him 
to  utter  the  aphorism,  "A  prophet  is  not  without 
honor,  but  in  his  own  country,  and  among  his  own 
kin,  and  in  his  own  house" 

The  habits  of  Jesus  were  in  strong  contrast  with 
those  of  his  coadjutor,  John  the  Baptist,  who  was 
an  abstainer  from  self-indulgence  like  the  seers 
of  old ;  but  Jesus  was  fond  of  good  living,  and  was 
a  wine-drinker;  he  patronized  feasts,  and  asso- 
ciated with  publicans,  striving  to  make  himself 
popular  with  the  people;  he  defended  his  course 
with  adroitness,  as  ministering  to  the  needy.  Christ's 
teaching  was  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  age, 
mostly  in  parables,  with  a  certain  latitude  and 
ambiguity,  and  his  acts  were  in  many  particulars 
at  variance  with  the  law,  which  he  declared  shall 

1  The  story  recorded  in  the  Gospel  of  John,  of  his  mother  at 
the  cross,  is  clearly  refuted  by  the  other  three  Gospels,  in  addition 
to  the  fact  that  she  had  a  husband  and  children,  who  were  better 
able,  probably,  to  care  for  her,  and  more  in  unison  with  her,  than 
a  disciple  of  Christ.  John's  Gospel  is  clearly  an  excogitation 
from  the  brain  of  an  imaginative  Pauline  fanatic  who  probably 
wrote  that  weird  book  called  "  Revelation,"  that  is  only  the  reve- 
lation of  the  author's  morbid  invention. 
123 


irt 


not  in  one  jot  or  tittle  pass  away  "till  heaven  and 
earth  pass  away."  He  did  not  hesitate  to  dese- 
crate the  Sabbath  in  the  eyes  of  the  law-abiding 
Jews,  and  justified  it  by  referring  to  the  act  of 
his  ancestor  David,  who  ate  the  consecrated  show- 
bread,  which  was  not  lawful.  His  freedom  of  ac- 
tion on  the  Jewish  Sabbath  might  be  imitated  by 
modern  Christians  with  advantage  by  copying  the 
freedom  of  their  divine  master,  instead  of  forcing 
unwilling  people  to  keep  holy  the  day  of  the  sun- 
worshippers,  as  ordered  by  the  Emperor  Constan- 
tine  in  dereliction  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath. 

The  prophetic  sayings  and  fabulous  legends  of 
the  ancients  were  introduced  for  the  instruction 
of  the  people;  they  were  often  significant  and 
pertinent,  and  were  frequently  attributed  to  noted 
seers,  to  give  them  currency;  they  were  sometimes 
made  to  assume  a  prophetic  character,  by  declar- 
ing that  they  had  been  uttered  by  prophets  anterior 
to  the  facts  they  were  made  to  announce,  or  by 
enacting  what  it  was  assumed  the  prophets  fore- 
told; such  sayings  were  innumerable,  and  could 
be  appended  to  the  traditions  of  any  divinity, 
prophet,  or  sage  to  whom  omination  was  attributed  ; 
the  facility  of  thus  enhancing  the  wisdom  of  a  re- 
vered archetype,  by  appending  a  wise  saying  to 
124 


Supernatural  Conception.* 

his  traditional  wisdom,  was  easy,  and  difficult  of 
detection;  in  the  Gospels  are  described  acts  that 
were  frequently  performed  for  the  purpose  of  ful- 
filling a  prophecy. 

What  portion  of  the  parables  that  are  attributed 
to  Christ  were  really  uttered  by  him  can  never 
be  known;  they  are  all  derived  from  traditionary 
recollections,  that  no  one  pretends  were  written 
down  at  the  time  of  their  utterance.  Such  a  para- 
ble as  the  sower  and  the  seed  was  adapted  to  the 
occasion,  and  hardly  needed  an  interpretation. 
When  asked  why  he  spoke  in  parables,  Christ's 
answer  was  enigmatical:  that  his  hearers  should 
not  understand;  and  he  then  uttered  his  most 
unjust  aphorism,  "Whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall 
be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more  abundance:  but 
whosoever  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away 
even  that  which  he  hath."  What  a  maxim  this  is 
for  the  inculcation  of  the  grossest  injustice  among 
"men.  The  parable  of  the  tares,  and  those  that 
follow  it,  do  not  excel  those  of  more  ancient  sages 
in  moral  teaching.  It  is  asserted  that  Christ's 
utterance  of  parables  was  made  to  fulfil  the  say- 
ings of  some  prophet ;  a  reason  for  many  other  acts 
in  the  New  Testament.  The  comparisons  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  to  a  treasure,  to  the  finding  of 

I2S 


©tiffin  of 

pearls,  to  a  net,  are  not  sufficiently  striking  for 
criticism;  they  indicate  heaven  as  a  circumscribed 
space,  above  the  firmament,  as  do  all  Christ's 
sayings,  and  there  is  a  significant  denouement, 
that  all  the  sinners  are  to  be  cast  into  a  fiery  furnace, 
11  where  there  shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of 
teeth,"  and  this  to  all  eternity.  Who  can  wonder 
that  such  teaching  should  make  fiends  of  man- 
kind !  It  is  so  very  easy,  if  not  equitable,  to  serve 
all  grades  of  sinners  alike. 

In  his  own  city,  Nazareth,  Christ's  preaching 
made  no  proselytes,  for  his  kinfolk  and  neighbors 
repudiated  him;  this  caused  him  to  utter  the  la- 
ment that  a  prophet  had  no  honor  in  his  own  coun- 
try and  in  his  own  house.  (Pity,  but  they  knew  him !) 
Christ  was  very  appreciative  of  the  good  opin- 
ion of  others,  and  he  resented  opposition  with 
great  vehemence;  when  he  met  his  disciples,  as  is 
said  on  one  occasion,  and  asked,  "Whom  do  men 
say  that  I  am?"  and  on  being  informed  asked, 
''But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am?"  Simon  Peter  said, 
"Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  son  of  the  living  God." 
It  evidently  pleased  Jesus,  who  said,  "Blessed  art 
thou,  Simon-Bar-jona :  for  flesh  and  blood  hath 
not  revealed  it  to  thee,  but  the  Father  which  is  in 
heaven."  He  then  declared,  "Thou  art  Peter,  and 
126 


upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church;  and  I  will 
give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  heaven."  He  also  gave 
Peter  dominion  over  earth  and  hell,  so  great  was 
his  satisfaction  and  confidence  in  him.  But  when 
Jesus  afterward  spoke  of  his  death,  and  Peter, 
to  whom  these  great  powers  were  given,  contro- 
verted him,  it  evidently  excited  his  indignation 
against  the  disciple  on  whom  he  had  bestowed 
such  unprecedented  power,  and  turning  on  him, 
he  said,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan:  thou  art 
an  offence  unto  me:  for  thou  savorest  not  the 
things  that  be  of  God."  What  a  change  in  the 
divine  Saviour's  views  of  the  disciple  he  had  so 
exalted  when  he  dissented  from  his  predictions  out 
of  extreme  love  for  him !  This  was  a  warning  les- 
son to  the  disciples  not  to  be  so  indiscreet,  as  it  was 
evident  laudation  was  more  agreeable  to  Christ 
than  dissent.  His  invectives  against  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees  who  opposed  his  claim  to  Messiah- 
ship,  and  the  cities  that  repudiated  him,  were  scath- 
ing and  vindictive,  in  which  burning  in  hell-fire 
was  a  staple  punishment. 

In  his  teachings  Christ  indorses  that  old  Baby- 
lonian fable  of  the  flood  and  of  Noah's  ark,  to  il- 
lustrate the  unknown  time  of  his  coming,  and  he 
charges  his  disciples  to  keep  diligent  watch  there- 
127 


of 


for.  If  it  was  not  to  happen  in  their  time,  the  in- 
junction was  a  gross  deception  on  their  credulity. 
The  constant  watchfulness  of  his  followers  he  fur- 
ther emphasized  by  the  parable  of  the  ten  virgins. 
It  is  probable  that  at  this  time,  while  he  foresaw 
his  impending  fate,  he  desired  to  keep  his  disciples 
together  for  further  aggression,  under  the  illusion 
of  his  returning  with  heavenly  forces  to  aid  them. 
After  his  capture  he  boasted  of  his  divine  position 
before  the  high  priest,  and  was  sent  by  him  to  the 
Roman  governor  for  trial.  Before  Pilate  he  was 
accused  of  claiming  to  be  the  "  King  of  the  Jews;" 
whatever  evidence  was  adduced  on  that  occasion 
we  have  no  record  of,  but  Christ  himself  acknowl- 
edged the  charge  on  which  he  was  condemned  and 
executed. 

The  episode  of  Pilate's  repudiating  the  sentence, 
or  that  Christ  suffered  death  for  his  religious  teach- 
ings, is  disproved  by  the  legend  blazoned  by  Pilate  on 
the  cross.  Christ's  antipathy  to  the  Jewish  hier- 
archy, on  account  of  their  opposition  to  his  claims 
as  "  Messiah"  and  "King  of  the  Jews,"  descended 
to  his  followers,  and  pervaded  their  traditions; 
hence  the  Christian  antipathy  to  the  Jews  down 
to  the  present  day. 

In  reviewing  the  parables  attributed  to  Christ, 
128 


eotuejitfons 


they  were  evidently  introduced  to  elucidate  some 
matter  under  discussion,  and  were  not  intended 
for  universal  application,  which  the  ingenuity  of 
modern  theologians  have  adapted  them  to;  and 
unadorned,  or  exemplified  under  the  light  taught 
by  modern  culture,  they  are  of  no  higher  charac- 
ter than  the  aphorisms  current  at  that  period.  There 
is  nothing  more  misleading  than  the  assumption 
of  divine  teaching  in  the  texts  used  by  modern 
theologians,  educated  in  the  high-toned  equity 
and  morality  taught  by  neoteric  science  and  learn- 
ing, from  which  our  highest  moral  teaching  comes. 

When  Jesus  had  given  his  envoys  secret  instruc- 
tions and  commenced  recruiting  in  the  cities,  the 
disciples  of  John,  who  was  then  in  prison,  came 
to  him,  and  questioned  him  to  know  if  he  was  the 
one  who  was  to  come,  or  if  they  should  look  for 
another;  thus  indicating  that  a  movement  was 
anticipated,  the  director  of  which  they  were  seek- 
ing. Jesus  satisfied  them,  and  on  their  departure 
he  uttered  flattering  encomiums  on  John,  saying, 
"This  is  Elias,  which  was  to  come,"  premising, 
"if  you  will  receive  it,"  indicating  the  incredible 
character  of  the  assertion,  and  the  great  strain  on 
their  credulity. 

The  recorded  teachings  ascribed  to  Jesus  were, 
129 


©rigtn  of 

as  we  have  seen,  largely  by  parables,  a  mode  of 
teaching  by  fable  always  current  in  the  East,  used 
for  inculcating  dogmas  and  morals  by  their  sages 
in  early  times;  the  world  was  full  of  them,  ready 
to  be  attributed  to  any  teacher  as  their  author, 
who  was  often  nebulous. 

There  is  nothing  about  those  ascribed  to  Christ 
more  potent,  as  we  have  indicated,  than  those  de- 
rived from  other  sources.  He  claimed  to  be  the 
Jewish  Messiah,  and  "King  of  the  Jews,"  in  a 
"kingdom  of  heaven"  to  be  founded  by  him;  this 
was  magnified  by  Paul  into  a  Saviour  of  mankind. 

After  the  reception  of  the  delegation  from  John, 
Jesus  went  to  his  own  home,  among  his  relatives 
and  acquaintances,  where  he  was  repudiated; 
and  "he  did  not  many  mighty  works  there  because 
of  their  unbelief."  It  was  useless  to  display  won- 
ders where  the  audience  so  well  knew  the  actor; 
it  is  unquestionable  that  his  relatives  rejected  his 
supernatural  and  divine  claims,  and  did  not  intend 
to  be  involved  in  his  crusade  to  make  himself  ' '  King 
of  the  Jews."  Could  better  evidence  be  adduced 
that  his  family  did  not  believe  in  his  supernatural 
advent  or  mission?  Neither  his  father,  mother, 
brothers  nor  sisters  were  among  his  followers; 
the  only  one  of  his  kinfolk  that  joined  in  the  con- 


Supernatural  (Conceptions 

spiracy  was  his  cousin,  John  the  Baptist,  his  co- 
adjutor in  the  demonstration.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  mother  of  Jesus  would  have  been 
one  of  his  most  prominent  and  devout  followers 
if  she  knew  or  believed  that  he  was  conceived  in 
her  virginity,  through  the  direct  interposition  of 
divine  power. 


of 


CHAPTER  V. 
CHRIST'S  MIRACLES  AND  RESURRECTION 

THE  most  important  factors  for  belief  in  the 
divinity  of  Christ  are  the  assumption  of  his  resur- 
rection and  power  to  work  miracles;  if  there  was 
any  novelty  in  this  assumption,  it  might  appear 
significant,  but  the  history  of  every  prior  divinity 
conceived  by  man  shows  them  to  be  equally  gifted; 
therefore,  it  behooves  us  to  examine  into  the  char- 
acter and  proof  of  the  miracles  ascribed  to  him, 
and  judge  of  the  avowed  purpose  and  results, 
as  recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  to  determine 
their  value. 

All  the  miracles  recorded  of  Jesus  Christ  were 
local  and  circumscribed  in  their  purpose;  they 
were  for  the  personal  advantage  of  individuals, 
and  were  only  bestowed  on  believers;  they  were 
temporary,  and  seemed  to  have  been  displayed 
to  guarantee  his  assumptions  to  control  and  coun- 
teract the  established  laws  of  nature;  while  the 
132 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

great  wonders  and  mighty  power  he  claimed  to 
possess,  of  calling  hosts  of  angels  to  protect  him, 
were  never  displayed,  to  antagonize  the  acts  of  man. 
He  declared  that  he  could,  if  he  so  willed,  bring 
legions  of  angels  to  fight  for,  and  protect  him,  yet 
in  his  greatest  need  and  requirement,  he  received 
no  such  aid;  which,  apart  from  his  personal  pres- 
ervation, would  have  gone  further  to  convert  the 
world  than  all  the  preaching  of  himself  and  his 
successors;  in  fact,  his  dogma  received  but  little 
aid  in  its  dissemination  until  the  Emperor  Constan- 
tine,  in  great  peril,  realized  the  advantage  a  body 
of  fanatics  would  be  to  him  in  his  contention  with 
his  enemies.  This  gave  a  standing  to  the  sect 
that  enabled  them  at  a  later  day  to  dogmatize  and 
subdue  Rome,  and  subsequently  to  dominate  and 
barbarize  all  Europe;  which  caused  the  terrible 
warfare  between  it  and  science  in  the  contest  for 
freedom  of  thought  in  search  of  truth,  that  has 
culminated  in  modern  civilization. 

The  most  general  and  often  repeated  miracles 
recorded  of  Christ  were,  the  healing  of  the  sick 
and  decrepit  of  sundry  complaints  and  infirmi- 
ties, in  which  casting  out  devils  was  the  most  promi- 
nent. Most  of  these  miracles  were  of  a  promiscu- 
ous physical  character,  not  mental,  while  some 


of 


are  described  with  detailed  precision.  Possession 
of  devils  has  now  faded  out  of  the  category  of  dis- 
eases under  the  light  of  modern  culture,  but  was 
then  believed  in  with  unquestioning  faith  by  Christ's 
Jewish  followers,  and  by  Christ,  himself  a  Jew. 
Before  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  ever  since,  men  have 
appeared  who  claimed  to  possess  miraculous  powers 
to  heal  diseases  and  to  raise  the  dead.  That  hal- 
lucination has  been  assumed  by  fanatics,  charla- 
tans, and  impostors,  down  to  the  present  time, 
and  is  now  believed  in  by  a  large  number  of  intel- 
ligent people  in  this  enlightened  age,  although  the 
assumption  is  shown  on  investigation  to  be  falla- 
cious. The  instances  in  which  Christ  is  said  to 
have  raised  the  dead  were  inconspicuous,  generally 
unnoticed,  and  of  private  interest;  it  was  often 
performed  as  a  reward  for  unquestioning  belief 
in  him. 

While  the  stories  of  miracles  achieved  by  Christ 
do  not  differ  in  their  characteristics  from  those 
of  his  predecessors,  some  of  them  exhibit  an  ap- 
parent want  of  equity,  malevolence,  and  favorit- 
ism, or  as  an  aid  to  social  fellowship,  incongruous 
in  a  Messiah,  and  not  prompted  by  his  universal 
mission. 

The  miracle  of  the  fig-tree  cannot  be  truthfully 


erouccjmaus 


construed  otherwise  than  as  malevolent;  no  other 
purpose  was  accomplished  by  it.  The  miracle 
of  raising  Lazarus  from  the  dead  appears  as  an  act 
of  personal  love  and  friendship;  Lazarus,  so  far 
as  Christ's  recorded  mission  was  concerned,  was 
unimportant,  and  afforded  no  aid  to  the  cause; 
so  of  the  widow's  son.  The  healing  of  the  cen- 
turion's servant  was  a  reward  for  obsequious  faith, 
with  no  result  except  the  chance  of  winning  the 
Roman  soldier  to  his  cause.  The  exodus  of  a  le- 
gion of  devils  from  a  crazy  man  into  a  herd  of  swine 
by  Christ's  command,  with  license  to  drown  the 
unoffending  brutes,  served  no  other  apparent  pur- 
pose than  to  beget  the  hatred  of  the  populace 
where  the  miracle  was  enacted,  for  which  he  was 
driven  away  by  the  incensed  people.  The  con- 
troversy over  this  miracle,  between  the  grand  old 
statesman  Gladstone,  a  faith-ridden  fanatic,  and 
Professor  Huxley,  the  scientist,  shows  us  the  power 
6f  early  teaching  over  reason  and  common  sense 
in  the  highest  intellects,  giving  us  warning  not  to 
put  faith  in  the  ipse  dixit  of  the  most  noted  author- 
ity, unaccompanied  by  proof,  without  careful  in- 
vestigation. 

When  Jesus  heard  that   John  the  Baptist  was 
beheaded,  and  hastened  away  to  a  place  of  safety, 


of 


he  was  followed,  as  we  have  seen,  by  multitudes 
of  men,  and  performed  one  of  his  two  analogous 
miracles,  the  feeding  a  host  to  surfeit  with  inade- 
quate provisions,  with  a  surplus  of  several  baskets 
full  over  a  sufficiency.  This  miracle  indicates  in- 
cidentally that  he  had  an  array  of  thousands  of 
followers  at  that  time  with  him.  The  duplication 
of  this  miracle  appears  to  weaken  its  probability, 
but  it  may  be  that  those  who  hunger  after  the  su- 
pernatural will  not  be  surfeited  with  the  second 
repast;  the  most  important  fact  historically  is  the 
narrative  showing  that  he  had  an  army  of  men 
with  him. 

When  his  disciples  next  met  him,  he  asked  them, 
as  before  related,  "  Whom  do  men  say  that  I  am?" 
with  his  laudation  and  reproof  of  Peter. 

Jesus  cautioned  his  followers  against  pretenders, 
and  gave  them  a  graphic  description  of  the  advent 
of  the  "  Son  of  Man,"  comparing  it  to  lightning  com- 
ing out  of  the  east  and  shining  to  the  west.  He 
tells  them  that  immediately  after  the  tribulations 
he  had  described,  "  the  sun  shall  be  darkened,  and 
the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars 
shall  fall  from  heaveny  when  shall  appear  the  sign 
of  the  '  Son  of  Man  '  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven 
with  power  and  great  glory.  And  he  shall  send 
136 


(Conceptions 


his  angels  with  great  sound  of  trumpet  to  gather 
the  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of 
heaven  to  the  other"  He  tells  them,  "when  they 
see  these  things,  they  will  know  the  time  has  come." 
He  then  goes  on  to  declare  in  unmistakable  lan- 
guage, "Verily  I  say  unto  you,  this  generation  shall 
not  pasSj  until  all  these  things  are  fulfilled;  heaven 
and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not 
pass  away."  He  admonishes  them  to  "  Watch  there- 
fore :  for  ye  know  not  what  hour  your  Lord  doth 
come  ;  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the  '  Son 
of  Man'  cometh."  In  the  preceding  quotations  the 
extent  of  Christ's  knowledge  in  relation  to  the  phys- 
ical world,  and  his  idea  of  a  circumscribed  heaven 
above  it,  to  and  from  which  he  and  the  angels  were 
to  travel,  as  appeared  in  Jacob's  dream,  and  de- 
scending on  clouds  to  earth,  clearly  show  his  entire 
ignorance  of  the  physical  world.  I  have  italicized 
the  sentences  quoted  to  which  I  would  call  partic- 
ular attention,  showing  the  unquestionable  error 
of  Christ's  declarations. 

When  Christ  instructed  his  disciples  how  to  know 
him  from  a  false  Messiah,  he  tells  them  he  will 
come  with  wondrous  heavenly  phenomena  that 
our  present  knowledge  shows  to  be  an  impossi- 
bility; his  prognostication  of  the  time  when  these 


of 


events  were  to  happen  was  not  verified.  All  this 
clearly  demonstrates  that  Christ  had  no  knowl- 
edge beyond  that  of  his  compeers  about  the  uni- 
verse; there  can  be  no  doubt  he  believed  this  earth 
to  be  a  stable,  immovable  body,  and  that  there 
was  a  habitable  place  above  the  "firmament," 
where  heaven  was  supposed  to  be,  in  which  "God 
the  Father"  resided  enthroned  in  glory.  He  dis- 
tinctly names  the  ends  of  heaven,  and  he  declares 
his  purpose  to  fit  up  mansions  there  for  the  saints, 
thus  materializing  and  circumscribing,  not  only 
heaven,  but  God,  who  resided  therein;  whom  he 
learned  from  Genesis  had  the  configuration  of  man, 
who  was  made  in  his  image,  and  consequently 
he  was  a  personality.  Christ's  view  of  heaven, 
and  its  place  in  nature,  is  established  by  his  declara- 
tion that  the  stars  would  jail;  those  little  scintil- 
lating sparks  in  the  firmament  created  in  one  day, 
as  is  told  in  Genesis,  that  were  to  fall  without  dis- 
turbing the  immutable  earth,  on  the  coming  of  the 
"Son  of  Man"  to  judge  this  little  world,  to  him 
the  stable  centre  of  creation.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  he  thought  the  fall  of  the  stars  to  the  earth 
would  enhance  the  sublimity  of  the  advent.  We 
need  not  trace  the  legend  further  to  establish  the 
fact  that  Christ  was  ignorant  of  the  true  cosmos. 

138 


Supernatural  erourrjittons 

We  have  seen  that  Christ  assured  his  disciples 
they  "will  see"  the  destruction  of  the  universe 
during  their  lives;  and  he  admonishes  them  to 
watch,  as  they  did  not  know  when  this  would  hap- 
pen. He  says,  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some 
standing  here  that  shall  not  taste  death  till  they 
see  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  his  kingdom."  He 
thus  commits  himself  in  the  clearest  and  most 
unmistakable  language,  that  neither  theology  nor 
sophistry  can  torture  into  a  metaphysical  or  spir- 
itual meaning  of  the  statement  modifying  the  plain 
declaration.  Time  has  clearly  proved  that  none 
of  the  phenomena  described  by  Christ  as  about 
to  take  place  materialized  in  that  generation,  nor 
has  it  since  then,  for  nineteen  hundred  years.  The 
old  legal  maxim,  falsus  in  uno  jalsus  in  omnibus, 
may  be  here  applied  with  significant  force. 

It  is  obvious  from  the  story  told  in  all  the  Gos- 
pels that  there  were  persistent  feuds  and  warfare 
between  Christ  and  the  Jewish  authorities,  the 
priests,  Pharisees,  Sadducees,  and  scribes,  against 
all  of  whom  he  hurled  anathemas  for  opposing  him. 

When  his  first  recorded  belligerent  act  occurred, 
on  his  notable  entrance  into  Jerusalem  trium- 
phantly seated  on  an  ass,  a  host  of  thousands  of  fol- 
lowers paid  him  divine  and  kingly  honors,  calling 


of 


him  "King  of  the  Jews"  as  he  entered  the  Temple 
and  took  possession  with  his  army  and  drove  out 
its  occupants;  all  the  events  immediately  follow- 
ing this  act  of  usurped  sovereignty  are  not  recorded, 
but  he  then  had  a  sufficient  following  at  his  com- 
mand to  temporarily  overthrow  the  legal  authori- 
ties; while  the  legends  of  his  varied  fortunes  are 
enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  miracles,  such  as  have  been 
attributed  to  all  of  the  ancient  deities,  his  expul- 
sion from  the  Temple  is  not  described. 

Before  and  after  the  decapitation  of  John  the 
Baptist,  Christ  was  aggressive;  subsequently,  after 
he  had  taken  possession  of  the  Temple  and  had 
been  ejected  therefrom,  his  later  discourses  shadow 
forth  monitions  of  his  coming  fate.  True  to  Jew- 
ish customs  and  traditions,  he  prepared  to  keep 
the  Passover  with  his  disciples  at  a  supper  which 
proved  to  be  his  last  ;  at  this  feast,  after  he  had  of- 
fered them  the  wine-  cup  to  drink,  he  is  reported 
to  have  said,  "  This  is  my  blood  shed  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  sins."  Here  is  the  first  announcement  of 
his  adherence  to  the  old  levitical  law  of  a  bloody 
sacrifice  to  an  inexorable  God.  It  was  uttered  when 
all  hope  of  becoming  king  had  vanished;  and  he 
then  declared  he  would  not  taste  wine  again  until 
he  drank  it  anew  with  his  disciples  in  his  Father's 
140 


Supernatural 


kingdom,  an  illusion  he  still  kept  up,  giving  them 
to  understand  that  when  they  were  in  his  Father's 
kingdom,  they  would  be  amply  supplied  with  a 
solace  of  the  wine-  cup. 

After  the  supper,  as  before  related,  he  and  his 
disciples  went  out  to  his  retreat  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  to  escape  observation;  but  Christ  was 
evidently  apprehensive,  for  Judas,  whom  he  sus- 
pected, was  not  with  them.  Judas  knew  their 
place  of  refuge,  and  the  characteristics  and  pur- 
poses of  Christ's  disciples;  consequently,  he  in- 
vaded their  retreat  with  a  strong  force  of  armed 
men  to  arrest  him,  with  a  preconcerted  signal  to 
ensure  his  capture.  Christ's  followers  at  first  made 
belligerent  demonstration,  but  Jesus,  probably  see- 
ing the  futility  of  it  as  is  told,  forbade  them.  He 
was  then  taken  into  custody  and  carried  before 
the  high  priest.  All  his  adherents  dispersed  except 
Peter,  who  had  the  boldness  to  follow  his  master 
in  disguise  before  the  tribunal  of  elders,  where  the 
chief  priest  adjured  Jesus,  saying,  "By  the  living 
God,  tell  us  whether  thou  be  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God."  He  answered  affirmatively,  and  boasted 
that  they  should  see  him  hereafter,  "sitting  on  the 
right  hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven  ;  "  this  the  high  priest  deemed  blasphemy. 

141 


2TJ)e  ©tfflfn  of 

He  was  then  taken  before  the  Roman  governor, 
Pilate,  before  whom  he  was  tried  and  condemned  to 
death,  not  for  the  assumption  of  divinity,  but  for  the 
attempt  to  enforce  his  claim  to  be  the  ' '  King  of  the 
Jews."  As  no  detail  is  given  of  the  evidence  against 
him,  we  cannot  judge  of  its  character;  but  we  are 
informed  that  he  confessed  to  Pilate  that  he  claimed 
to  be ' '  King  of  the  Jews,"  and  offered  no  evidence 
to  deny  the  charge  of  his  usurpation,  which  under 
Roman  law  incurred  the  penalty  of  death.  The 
story  that  the  witnesses  were  false,  and  that  they 
proved  no  infringement  of  the  law,  —  that  Pilate1 
found  no  cause  for  the  sentence,  and  that  he  de- 
clared, washing  his  hands,  that  Christ  was  innocent 
and  a  just  person,  —  is  so  entirely  unlike  what  we 
know  of  the  universal  course  and  policy  of  Roman 
rulers,  as  well  as  of  Roman  law,  that  the  statement 
appears  wholly  incredible,  especially  as  it  is  founded 
on  the  nebulous  traditions  of  Christ's  catechumens 
and  apologists  orally  acquired  through  several  gen- 
erations of  vague  legendary  lore.  Such  a  vacillating, 
wayward  administration  of  justice  found  no  place 
under  Roman  rule.  The  offence  for  which  Christ 
was  crucified  was  unmistakably  blazoned  by  Pilate 
upon  his  cross. 

In  the  foregoing  account  of  the  trial  and  the  exe- 
142 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

cution  of  Christ  we  have  followed  the  first  three 
Gospels  as  the  most  unbiassed  authority ;  the  fourth 
Gospel  is  evidently  the  work  of  a  mystical,  fanati- 
cal Paulist,  in  which  statements  are  made  regardless 
of  fact,  and  clearly  deviating  from  the  other  accounts 
in  a  way  that  renders  it  more  than  doubtful ;  notably, 
the  account  that  the  mother  of  Jesus  was  near  his 
cross,  a  thing  which  would  not  have  been  permitted 
by  the  executioners,  and  which  controverts  the  other 
accounts  of  the  crucifixion,  wherein  particular  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  Marys  who  were  present  ' l  afar 
off,"  but  do  not  allude  to  Christ's  mother  as  being 
there,  an  incredible  omission  if  she  was  present. 
This  story  in  the  Gospel  of  John  was  evidently  a 
figment  of  the  writer's  brain,  who  thus  deduced  the 
homily  attributed  to  Christ  at  the  last  supper.  The 
inscrutable  writer  evidently  drew  upon  his  imagi- 
nation to  sustain  his  theology,  as  in  his  fabulous 
opening  chapter. 


of 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT 

THE  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  evidently,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  homily  addressed  by  Christ  to  his  un- 
trained, ignorant  followers  about  to  engage  in  per- 
ilous undertakings,  exhorting  them  to  be  patient 
and  content  under  the  great  privations  and  difficul- 
ties they  were  about  to  encounter.  It  gave  them  as- 
surance of  ample  reward  in  the  untold  future,  inter- 
spersed with  judicious  praise,  with  an  injunction  to 
act.  1 l  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world ;  ye  are  the  salt 
of  the  earth."  He  taught  a  code  of  non-resistance, 
and  used  an  exaggeration  of  speech  which,  but  for 
a  belief  in  his  divinity,  would  be  deemed  absurd, 
advising  them  if  their  eyes  or  hands  offended  (what- 
ever that  may  mean),  to  destroy  them,  —  not  to  con- 
trol or  guide  them,  but  to  ' '  cut  them  off,"  to  pre- 
vent their  whole  body  from  being  "cast  into  hell." 

After  this  exaggerated  utterance,  he  charges  them 
not  to  resist  evil,  thus  teaching  a  code  of  non-resist- 
144 


.Supernatural  (f  oncepiioutf 

ance  that  would  serve  to  prevent  his  followers  from 
contest  detrimental  to  his  cause.  This,  although 
not  then  a  new  doctrine,  has  never  been  practised 
by  any  cultivated  people.  Such  an  act  would  now 
be  considered  imbecile,  if  not  criminal.  Again,  we 
read  in  this  sermon  his  exhortations  to  his  followers 
to  take  no  thought  what  they  should  eat,  drink,  or 
wear;  which,  if  intended  for  the  exigencies  of  his 
army,  may  have  been  politic,  but  if  intended  for  a 
guide  in  ordinary  life,  is  contrary  to  a  sound  theory 
of  human  economy.  A  thoughtful  care  for  the  fu- 
ture is  the  soul  of  virtue  and  prosperity  in  the  indi- 
vidual and  in  the  nation.  These  aphorisms  seem 
to  have  been  the  utterances  of  fanaticism,  or  to  have 
grown  out  of  the  exigencies  of  his  situation,  and 
have  been  the  unfortunate  source  of  much  mistaken 
piety  in  sects  that  have  sprung  up  under  their  in- 
fluence. It  may  be  said  of  these  specimens  of 
Christ's  exhortations,  that  what  is  true  and  good 
had  long  before  been  inculcated,  and  what  is  new 
and  exceptional  is  neither  good  nor  true.  The  par- 
ables are  like  the  fables  of  earlier  origin  uttered  to 
illustrate  moral  truths.  Whether  they  are  correctly 
attributed  to  Christ  or  not  is  a  matter  hardly  worth 
discussing.  They  elucidate  no  new  truths,  but  their 
introduction  as  teachings  was  a  great  temptation 


of 


for  a  subsequent  narrator  to  insert  them  into  the 
legend. 

No  argument  would  suffice  to  controvert  the  mir- 
acles with  one  who  believes  in  their  credibility; 
while  the  assumption  that  they  were  possible,  or  had 
any  existence  in  fact,  cannot  be  proved  by  any  ad- 
missible evidence. 

In  the  abnormal  acts  related  of  Christ  we  can 
only  mark  the  character  of  the  phenomena  and  the 
events  that  caused  them.  The  first  miracle  re- 
corded of  him,  that  we  note,  is  the  blasting  of  a  fig- 
tree,  obviously  in  revenge  for  his  disappointment. 
In  this  advanced  age  it  seems  wayward  and  unrea- 
soning, yet  theologians  try  to  palliate  the  act;  and 
good,  just,  intellectual  thinkers,  desirous  that  truth 
should  prevail,  are  so  handicapped  by  their  belief 
in  Christ's  divinity  that  they  allow  their  reason  to 
be  held  in  abeyance,  because  they  have  had  the 
dogma  instilled  into  their  minds  from  infancy,  and 
dare  not  doubt  it.  So  far  many  of  the  conscientious 
and  good  acolytes  of  all  the  ancient  faiths  would 
have  sacrificed  their  lives  in  defence  of  their  religion 
and  in  the  adulation  of  their  gods,  while  men  who 
have  cast  off  the  glamour  of  superstition  see  the 
errors  and  defects  of  all  the  gods  described  by  man, 
from  whose  imperfect  mint  they  have  been  coined. 
146 


(Conceptions 

The  next  miracle,  which  requires  much  greater 
credulity  to  believe,  is  the  story  of  the  casting  out 
devils  from  a  crazy  man  living  among  the  tombs, 
and  causing  them  to  enter  a  herd  of  swine.  For- 
tunately this  malady  of  the  bedevilment  of  men  to 
deprive  them  of  their  senses  has  totally  disappeared 
in  these  enlightened  days,  and  the  potency  of  its 
introduction  has  become  obsolete.  The  grossness 
of  this  story  would  seem  to  carry  its  own  refutation 
with  it,  but  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  statesmen 
in  England  has  in  recent  days,  as  we  have  seen, 
attempted  to  champion  it  against  the  destructive 
assaults  of  a  far  more  able  foeman  than  myself. 
As  I  feel  assured  that  he  has  failed  to  maintain  the 
reality  of  the  fabulous  account  that  Professor  Hux- 
ley has  so  clearly  annihilated  and  consigned  to  the 
realms  of  fiction,  where  it  belongs,  I  need  add  noth- 
ing further  to  refute  it. 

Another  miracle,  the  turning  of  water  into  wine, 
was  an  act  performed  at  a  wedding-feast,  simply  in 
furtherance  of  a  social  festival.  This  appears  to 
have  been  a  prostitution  of  divine  power,  on  a  mis- 
sion, as  is  claimed,  for  the  salvation  of  mankind, 
frittered  away  in  dereliction  of  his  vicarious  ap- 
pointment as  Messiah  and  Redeemer  of  the  world. 
This  miracle,  and  his  declaration  that  he  would 

'47 


of 


drink  wine  in  heaven  thereafter,  are  sore  thorns  in 
the  sides  of  the  overzealous  temperance  advocates, 
showing  that  Christ  was  unquestionably  a  drinker 
of  wine  and  bon-vivant. 

He  manifestly  feared  the  influence  of  other  aspir- 
ants for  the  Messiahship  on  his  followers;  and 
when  his  disciples  asked  him  what  was  to  be  the 
sign  of  his  coming  and  the  end  of  the  world  (which, 
he  assured  them,  and  they  evidently  believed,  would 
be  in  their  time),  without  answering  their  questions 
he  dilated  on  the  manner  of  his  coming,  picturing 
a  most  marvellous  display  of  wonders,  with  a  sound- 
ing of  trumpets  by  angels,  and  a  general  destruc- 
tion of  the  universe  to  proclaim  his  advent.  In  this, 
as  in  all  his  other  declarations,  he  is  made  to  call 
himself  "the  Son  of  Man,"—  not  the  Son  of  God 
(thus  declaring  he  had  an  earthly  father),  which  is 
certainly  significant,  showing  he  avoided  making 
that  claim.  He  declared,  as  we  have  seen,  that  all 
the  wonders  he  had  described  were  to  happen  dur- 
ing the  lifetime  of  that  generation.  Such  a  descrip- 
tion would  be  deemed  farcical  if  it  were  not  believed 
to  be  the  utterance  of  Deity,  yet  wise,  learned,  and 
good  people  have  faith  in  his  hereafter  coming. 

On  this  rhapsodically  dramatic  second  coming, 
with  a  blast  of  trumpets,  accompanied  by  angels 


and  a  fall  of  stars,  he  was  to  judge  all  mankind  and 
divide  them  into  two  groups,  the  sheep  and  the 
goats,  —  the  saints  and  the  sinners,  —  between 
which  he  was  to  draw  a  sharp  line,  and,  on  the 
principle  of  his  parable  of  the  laborers  in  the  vine- 
yard, he  would  reward  the  sheep  of  all  degrees  of 
goodness  equally;  and  the  goats  he  would  hurl  in- 
discriminately ' '  into  everlasting  punishment  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels,"  —  described 
elsewhere  as  everlasting  fire.  Such  is  the  picture 
of  the  dispenser  of  Christian  justice  given  by  his 
biographer,  who  as  well  as  himself  lived  in  a  primi- 
tive, ignorant,  and  superstitious  age,  above  which 
their  ideas  did  not  rise. 

To  explain  the  failure  to  make  good  the  assertion 
that  he  would  appear,  as  he  said  he  would,  has  ex- 
ercised many  profound  and  brilliant  intellects;  and 
when  such  authorities  were  received  on  their  own 
ipse  dixit,  their  dictum  was  sufficient.  But  modern 
science  repudiates  all  dogmatisms  unsupported  by 
facts,  discarding  their  theories,  sophistic  reasonings, 
and  subterfuges  employed  to  reconcile  the  known 
fact  with  the  false  declaration. 

Christ  had  achieved  his  popularity  with  the  lower 
strata  of  the  populace,  and  had  obtained  a  follow- 
ing, which  seems  never  to  have  attained  proportions 
149 


of 


sufficiently  formidable  to  endanger  the  government. 
But  the  story  culminates  in  a  record  of  miracles, 
healing  of  the  sick,  raising  of  the  dead,  and  casting 
out  devils,  all  of  which  was  common  in  prior  East- 
ern mythologies. 


Supernatural 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION  —  JOHN'S  GOSPEL 

HAVING  briefly  set  forth  some  of  the  salient 
features  in  the  life  of  Christ  and  his  teachings, 
drawn  from  the  meagre  record  in  the  Gospels,  in 
which  mysticism  pervades  the  story,  that  shows 
an  evident  evasion  of  his  belligerent  acts  and  their 
failure,  by  a  suppression  of  facts,  it  is  interesting 
to  analyze  the  religion  based  upon  it,  premising  that 
the  histories  of  the  world  record  the  establish- 
ment of  innumerable  religious  dogmas,  which  are 
often  based  upon  seeming  trifles.  Such  grand  and 
wide-spread  religions  as  are  based  on  the  Hindu, 
Buddhist,  Egyptian,  Grecian,  and  Roman  mythol- 
ogies were  the  outcome  of  generating  incidents, 
facts,  and  suggestions  drawn  from  the  phenomena 
of  nature,  or  the  events  of  social  relations,  that 
impressed  themselves  upon  the  primitive  mind, 
events  materialized  in  the  imagination  and  devel- 
oped from  nuclei  apparently  inconsequent  and 


of 


frivolous.  From  such  an  origin  was  the  Moham- 
medan religious  faith  developed  in  later  times, 
that  spread  further  and  embraced  a  larger  number 
of  proselytes  than  the  Christian  religion  has  done, 
and  in  less  time. 

In  our  country  sectarian  dogmas  have  sprung 
up  with  wonderful  vitality  in  the  midst  of  an  en- 
lightened community;  witness  the  sect  of  Shakers, 
believing  in  the  second  advent  of  Christ  in  the  per- 
son of  a  female  (Ann  Lee),  and  the  more  recent 
Mormon  faith,  with  a  host  of  earnest  believers, 
ready  to  peril  life  and  comfort  for  the  cause,  which 
originated  in  the  most  absurd  pretensions  that  could 
well  be  elaborated.  Yet  they  resulted  in  sects 
which  a  few  years  earlier  would  have  developed 
a  new  nation.  And  now,  that  barefaced  fraud 
Dowie  pockets  millions  of  dollars  while  deluding 
a  multitude  of  followers. 

We  thus  see  that  no  bounds  can  be  anticipated 
for  human  credulity  and  fanaticism.  We  may 
note,  however,  that  the  records  of  abnormal  and 
supernatural  appearances  have  become  less  fre- 
quent as  the  world  gets  more  enlightened  ;  although 
many  learned  men  of  to-day,  as  well  as  a  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  people  in  the  most  advanced  coun- 
tries, believe  in  supernatural  occurrences  that 


Supernatural  Gonccjittaug 

tradition  relates  happened  centuries  ago.  No 
number  of  witnesses  would  cause  the  world  of  sci- 
ence to  believe  in  their  occurrence  at  the  present 
day.  A  man  who  should  pretend  now  to  have  a 
divine  mission  would  attain  as  much  apprecia- 
tion by  the  ignorant  as  Christ,  the  son  of  a  Naz- 
arene  carpenter,  did  in  Judea,  with  as  many  fol- 
lowers as  tradition  gives  him.  The  most  absurd 
pretender  still  has  followers;  and  so  it  will  ever 
be  until  men  learn  that  there  never  was  any  reve- 
lation or  abnormal  miraculous  phenomenon  imparted 
to  man  at  any  time  from  any  source. 

In  carefully  reading  the  record  of  Christ's  teach- 
ings, we  are  impressed  with  the  fact  that,  while 
there  is  no  indication  that  he  knew  anything  of 
the  true  cosmology  of  the  universe,  there  are  many 
passages  that  show  his  entire  ignorance  of  it.  It 
is  clear  that  he  pictured  heaven  as  a  determinate 
place  above  the  "firmament"  which  surmounted 
the  world;  that  the  sun  and  moon  could  be  dark- 
ened as  a  readily  achievable  act ;  and  that  the  stars 
(the  little  spangles  that  dotted  the  great  arch  over 
us)  could  fall.  Wonderful  destruction  of  the  uni- 
verse was  to  take  place  in  consequence  of  the  com- 
ing of  the  "  Son  of  Man"  to  judge  mankind  in  this 
little  planet.  To  him  the  earth  was  immovable, 
153 


of 


and  that  he  and  hosts  of  angels  would  descend  upon 
it  from  the  great  arch  over  it,  where  heaven  was 
located,  on  clouds;  that  heaven,  though  circum- 
scribed, was  big  enough  to  hold  all  the  saints. 

Christ's  idea  of  the  universe  was  that  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived;  and  if  the  Revelation  of  St. 
John  was  inspired  by  the  same  authority,  we  know 
what  Christ  had  in  his  mind  when  he  was  made 
to  speak  of  the  mansions  that  he  was  going  to  pre- 
pare for  his  disciples  and  the  saints,  in  that  heav- 
enly abode.  It  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation 
to  further  illustrate  Christ's  total  ignorance  of  the 
universe.  When  he  talked  of  the  stars  jailing, 
how  little  did  he  know  about  those  ponderous  orbs 
that  sink  this  little  world  into  insignificant  dimen- 
sions in  the  creation.  Can  there  be  stronger  proof 
of  the  fabulous  character  of  these  narratives  ? 

It  is  clear  that  the  warfare  between  Christ  and 
the  sect  of  Pharisees  and  all  others  in  authority 
was  very  bitter;  but  the  details  of  the  controversy, 
or  any  overt  acts  arising  therefrom,  are,  as  we  have 
before  said,  carefully  suppressed.  Of  Christ's 
trial,  there  is  too  meagre  an  account  to  justify  us 
in  the  formation  of  any  judgment  as  to  the  equity 
of  the  sentence  that  culminated  in  his  execution. 
We  learn  incidentally  he  so  offended  the  Jewish 
'54 


authorities  that  they  deemed  him  more  criminal 
than  a  robber;  in  their  eyes  he  had  desecrated  the 
Temple.  If  his  offence  was  only  a  dereliction  from 
the  established  religion,  here  are  innumerable  re- 
cent examples  under  Christian  dispensation  of  exe- 
cutions for  a  like  offence. 

Christ  was  tried  before  a  Roman  tribunal,  that 
would  not  have  condemned  him  for  a  religious  of- 
fence against  the  Jewish  authority  if  nothing  else 
was  brought  against  him.  Christian  tradition  de- 
clares that  the  witnesses  against  him  were  false, 
although  little  is  recorded  of  what  was  proved, 
but  they  do  admit  that  there  was  no  rebutting  evi- 
dence offered,  and  that  Christ  acknowledged  to 
Pilate  that  he  had  claimed  to  be  "the  King  of  the 
Jews."  For  this  offence  alone  he  was  executed,  so 
far  as  the  record  shows.  By  what  " cantrip  sleight" 
his  followers  could  build  up  the  theory  that  he 
died  for  the  salvation  of  man,  especially  for  men  in 
after- ages,  with  which  the  event  had  no  logical 
connection,  is  cause  for  amazement,  while  the 
dogma  involves  the  barbaric  tenet  of  human  sac- 
rifice, such  as  was  practised  in  the  Mexican  relig- 
ion when  that  country  was  discovered. 

Founded  on  this  legend  of  human  sacrifice, — 
however  perpetuated,  —  this  sect  sprang  up  and 

*55 


of 


gained  strength  in  that  chaos  of  political  evolutions 
and  theological  isms,  during  the  later  Roman  Em- 
pire. It  flourished  under  the  patronage  of  Hadrian, 
coupled  with  the  adhesive  fanaticism  of  its  fol- 
lowers ;  and  finally  attracted  the  notice  of  Constan- 
tine,  who  was  at  that  time  in  a  controversy  with 
the  dominant  priesthood.  He  took  this  rising 
sect  under  his  protection,  for  political  reasons,  and 
established  its  power.  The  controversy  about  Con- 
stantine's  conversion  is  unfortunate  for  Christian- 
ity, as  his  infamous  character  added  but  little  pres- 
tige to  it  in  a  moral  point  of  view.  His  policy  in 
establishing  the  power  of  this  sect  was  the  curse  of 
Europe  throughout  the  dark  age  of  its  history,  up 
to  the  time  when  knowledge  and  science  —  of 
which  it  was  the  pronounced  and  active  foe  — 
gained  a  partial  victory  over  it  through  many 
martyrs.1  Fortunately,  liberty  of  thought  has 
gained  an  independence  and  right,  not  due  to  any 
teaching  of  Christianity,  but  to  the  triumph  of  the 
veritable  truths  of  science,  and  the  promulgation 
of  the  right  to  investigate  all  subjects,  and  announce 
the  facts  about  them,  against  any  taboo  of  the 
theologians. 

1  Of  this  we  have  a  full  account  from  the  laborious  researches 
of  that  learned  historian,  the  Hon.  Andrew  D.  White. 

156 


Supernatural  (Conceptions 

As  dogmatic  power  was  acquired,  doctrines  were 
formulated  by  rival  factions  in  the  Christian  Church ; 
all  clamoring  for  the  right  to  regulate  belief  in 
accordance  with  the  interpretations  of  their  sev- 
eral sects,  which  arose  even  in  the  first  century. 
This  produced  acrimonious  feuds,  each  sect  striv- 
ing for  ascendency  in  the  warfare  that  finally  cul- 
minated in  the  domination  of  the  Roman  Church,  — 
Providence  being,  as  usual,  on  the  side  of  the  domi- 
nant faction.  That  Church  governed  all  Europe 
for  centuries  with  a  beastly  fanaticism,  till  at  last 
nature  displayed  to  the  unsuppressible  mind  of 
men  truths  that  dogmatism  could  not  refute,  al- 
though their  first  announcement  brought  implaca- 
ble punishment  upon  the  audacious  offenders. 

Singularly  enough,  one  of  the  most  virulent  feuds 
in  the  Church  was  about  the  status  of  Christ.  One 
sect  believed  him  to  be  a  divinely  inspired  son  of 
man,  as  he  invariably  declared  himself  to  be,  and 
that  he  was  secondary  to  God  the  Father,  being 
subject  to  his  will,  as  he  said  he  was.  The  adverse 
sect  claimed  that  he  was  equal,  coexistent,  and 
very  God,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  as  is  asserted 
in  St.  John's  Gospel. 

The  mystical  sayings  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John 
(whoever  that  writer  may  have  been)  are  the  source 


of 


of  innumerable  interpretations,  which  they  have 
received  from  learned  theologians  and  fervent  lay- 
men without  number,  each  interpreting  to  suit 
his  own  creed.  The  fact  would  seem  to  be  that 
the  Gospel  was  concocted  by  a  mystic,  filled  with 
the  errant  traditions  of  Christ,  who  wrote  out  his 
own  metaphysical  interpretations,  with  nebulous 
historical  accounts  for  a  basis.  The  whole  at- 
mosphere of  that  Gospel  is  so  radically  different 
from  the  other  Gospels,  and  so  full  of  metaphys- 
ical rhapsodies,  as  to  show  a  rescript  of  the  author's 
cogitations  rather  than  a  statement  of  facts.  The 
interpretation  of  this  book  has  been  a  rich  working 
mine  for  theologians;  it  gives  them  scope  ad  lib- 
itum to  develop  sectarianisms  of  adverse  char- 
acter, all  established  by  some  weird  sayings,  the 
author  of  which  is  unknown 

The  Gospel  according  to  St.  John  was  evidently 
written  to  sustain  the  dogma  first  announced  by 
St.  Paul,  who  antagonized  St.  Peter  and  most  of 
the  disciples  of  Christ.  Paul  expanded  the  Jewish 
Messiah  into  a  deity  embracing  the  whole  human 
race.  He  abnegated  the  rite  of  circumcision  that 
every  believing  Jew  held  to  be  indispensable,  and 
without  which  Christ  could  not  have  obtained  a 
following. 


.Supernatural  Conceptions 

This  Gospel  begins  with  a  mystical  appellation 
to  designate  Christ.  The  author  goes  on  to  claim 
for  him  attributes  and  powers  that  Christ  himself 
never  claimed,  making  him,  instead  of  God  the 
Father,  the  creator  of  all  things;  centring  life 
even  in  him.  This  unwarranted  elevation  of  Christ 
is  the  foundation  of  the  subsequent  enigmatical 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  is  not  confirmed  by  any 
recorded  expression  of  Christ. 

The  generation  of  Jesus  related  in  Matthew  is 
ignored  in  John;  the  subject  was  evidently  too 
mundane  to  receive  the  notice  of  this  rhapsodic- 
ally  metaphysical  writer,  who  introduces  him  as 
the  Word  through  John,  whose  name  is  appended 
to  the  Gospel. 

John's  unique  garb  is  not  alluded  to,  but  he  is 
made  to  announce  the  advent  of  Christ,  as  infinitely 
superior  to  him.  The  appellation  of  Messiah  is 
ignored  in  this  statement,  but  he  makes  John  ex- 
claim, on  seeing  Jesus,  * '  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world." 
No  such  expression  is  found  in  any  of  the  other 
Gospels.  It  is  the  theology  of  Paul,  not  of  Jesus. 

The  advent  of  the  apostles  is  made  to  commence 
at  this  time,  quite  differently  from  the  other  accounts, 
when  Nathaniel  is  made  to  say,  ' '  Thou  art  the  Son 

'59 


of  God;  thou  art  the  King  of  Israel."  Jesus  tells 
him  he  shall  see  greater  things  than  the  fig-tree; 
that,  "  Hereafter  ye  shall  see  heaven  open,  and  the 
angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the 
Son  of  Man."  * 

The  introduction  of  the  episode  of  the  marriage 
in  Cana  of  Galilee  was  evidently  interjected  to  bring 
Jesus  into  contact  with  his  mother,  no  mention 
of  which  is  made  elsewhere.  Apart  from  the  puerile 
and  inconsequent  character  of  the  miracle,  there  is 
abundant  evidence  that  his  mother  did  not  believe 
in  his  divinity.  The  statement  that  his  mother  and 
brethren  went  with  him  to  Capernaum  is  either  a 
creation  of  the  author,  or  an  unreliable  tradition. 
The  rejection  by  Christ  of  his  mother  and  breth- 
ren is  omitted,  and  the  collection  of  a  large  host 
of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  who  went  with  him  to 
Jerusalem,  where  the  writer  describes  him  as  alone 
driving  out  of  the  Temple  those  who  sold  oxen 
and  sheep  and  doves,  and  the  changers  of  money 
sitting:  "When  he  had  made  a  scourge  of  small 
cords,  he  drove  them  all  out  of  the  Temple,  and 
the  sheep  and  the  oxen ;  and  poured  out  the  changers' 

1  As  these  boasts,  put  into  the  sayings  of  Jesus,  never  culumi- 
nated,  they  have  been  given  a  spiritually  metaphysical  interpreta- 
tion by  theologians. 

160 


money,  and  overthrew  the  tables."  We  have  quoted 
this  passage  at  length  as  a  remarkable  example 
of  suppressio  veri,  no  mention  being  made  of  the 
host  with  him,  clearly  with  the  design  of  exalting 
his  hero  into  a  god.  There  can  be  no  better  proof 
of  the  total  unreliability  of  the  author.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  when,  as  recorded,  Jesus  boasted  that 
if  the  Temple  in  which  they  were  was  destroyed,  he 
would  raise  it  up  in  three  days,  the  writer,  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  subsequent  tradition,  attributed 
the  saying  to  allusion  by  Christ  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  his  body ;  but  that  record  was  written  long 
after  Christ's  death,  an  afterthought. 

In  recording  what  is  assumed  to  be  Christ's 
sayings,  we  can  easily  see  they  were  written  after 
the  consummation  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  such  as  the 
lifting  up  of  the  serpent  by  Moses  compared  with 
his  execution.  Most  of  the  sayings  in  the  third 
chapter  of  John  are  but  the  lucubrations  of  the 
writer,  or  vague  tradition,  of  no  value  as  history. 

In  the  narrative  of  the  Samaritan  woman  at 
the  well,  the  Jewish  proclivity  of  Jesus  comes 
fully  out,  in  which  the  national  prejudice  is  appar- 
ent. When  he  was  teaching  among  his  neighbors, 
they  said,  "Is  not  this  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph, 
whose  father  and  mother  we  know?  How  is  it 
161 


of 


then  that  he  saith  I  came  down  from  heaven?" 
This  was  said  by  those  who  knew  him,  and  his 
father  and  mother;  if  they  had  ever  heard  of  his 
miraculous  conception,  they  would  not  have  thus 
spoken. 

We  will  not  comment  on  the  cannibalistic  pic- 
ture in  the  sixth  chapter  ;  it  may  be  construed  to  suit 
the  faith  of  those  who  believe  in  the  divinity  of 
the  record.  He  sometimes  alienated  his  followers 
by  his  sayings.  When  he  told  them,  '  '  No  man  can 
come  unto  me  except  it  were  given  unto  him  of  my 
Father,"  many  of  his  followers  went  back  and 
walked  no  more  with  him.  He  asks  his  disciples 
if  they  will  go  away,  but  they  stood  by  him.  At 
that  time  he  kept  out  of  Judea  in  Galilee,  fearing 
the  Jews  would  kill  him.  The  seventh,  eighth, 
ninth,  and  tenth  chapters  of  John  are  filled  with 
sayings,  altercations,  bickerings,  and  boastings, 
but  no  word  of  teaching,  the  point  being,  that  all 
that  believed  that  he  was  divine  were  good,  all  others 
were  sinners;  while  on  the  part  of  the  Jews  his 
pretension  to  be  the  son  of  God  was  blasphemy. 
It  is  more  than  doubtful  if  the  declaration  of  the 
Son  of  Man  means,  even  in  John,  that  he  was  the 
son  of  God,  any  more  than  all  good  men  are;  only 
that  as  he  was  assumed  to  be  most  perfect,  he  was 
162 


Supernatural  <Cauctpttans 

more  emphatically  entitled  to  the  cognomen.  But 
we  are  here  trenching  on  ground  we  would  avoid; 
we  do  not  intend  to  engage  in  the  war  of  the  theo- 
logians; the  author  of  John  was  evidently  on  the 
side  of  Christ's  divinity,  although  he  records  a 
number  of  sayings  that  refute  it. 

The  entry  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem,  seated  on 
an  ass,  as  related  in  John,  differs  in  time,  and  radi- 
cally in  manner,  from  the  other  Gospels,  showing 
the  dubious  character  of  the  legend;  but  it  dis- 
plays him  in  the  role  of  "King  of  the  Jews."  The 
attempt  of  the  writer  to  weaken  that  demonstra- 
tion by  ignoring  the  army  of  invaders  with  Jesus, 
in  recording  the  supernatural,  is  not  successful. 
Jesus,  accompanied  by  a  host  of  followers,  invaded 
Jerusalem  and  the  Temple,  to  the  surprise  of  the 
priests  and  the  people.  This  is  toned  down  by 
John  into  a  casual  meeting  of  the  people  gathered 
for  another  purpose,  who  incidentally  heard  of  his 
coming,  and  flocked  out  to  meet  him;  but  this 
version  is  traversed  by  the  other  Gospels.  The 
separating  his  entry  into  Jerusalem  from  his  host 
of  followers  and  his  driving  out  the  occupants  of 
the  Temple  alone  was  evidently  for  the  purpose 
of  magnifying  his  puissance  by  the  statement  that 
he  alone  drove  them  out. 


of 


The  dictum  attributed  to  Christ  in  the  twenty- 
fourth  verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter  would  not  be 
accepted  as  truth  by  modern  agriculturists  ;  it  is  an 
error  of  speech  uttered  to  illustrate  self-abnega- 
tion. If  a  belief  in  Jesus  was  essential  to  salvation 
it  was  unfortunate  that  the  fulfilment  of  the  saying 
of  Esaias  was  a  bar  to  the  belief  of  those  who  were 
present  with  him;  but  the  pains  taken  to  fulfil 
ancient  prophecies  throughout  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  a  proof  that  it  was  considered  important. 

No  attribute  is  more  strongly  declared  in  this 
Gospel  than  that  all  who  believe  undoubtingly  on 
Christ  shall  have  the  power  to  work  miracles. 
He  himself  is  made  to  declare  it  in  repeated  say- 
ings; yet  no  one  pretends  that  any  such  power 
exists  in  modern  times,  except  a  few  unprincipled 
charlatans,  that  in  every  age  are  found  deceiving 
the  credulous,  aided  by  a  very  universal  belief  in 
the  existence  of  miracles  in  past  ages. 

Throughout  the  whole  Gospel  of  John  the  say- 
ings are  self-laudatory,  and  are  intended  to  bind 
the  followers  of  Jesus  to  his  personality  rather  than 
to  any  specific  line  of  morals,  to  follow  his  example  ; 
while  but  little  is  recorded  of  his  acts  except  his 
miracles,  benefiting  certain  individuals  with  whom 
he  chanced  to  come  in  contact,  of  whom  noth- 
164 


Supernatural  Caiucjitf  ons 

ing  is  subsequently  related.  He  certainly  did  not 
originate  any  great  work  to  benefit  mankind.  The 
great  purpose  seems  to  have  been  his  proselyting, 
as  well  as  that  of  his  followers.  We  hear  of  no  marked 
change  in  civilization  of  his  followers  over  their 
compeers.  The  whole  body  of  the  Gospels'  theol- 
ogy is  comprised  in  the  third  verse  of  the  seven- 
teenth chapter,  "This  is  life  eternal,  that  they 
might  know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  thou  hast  sent."  Jesus  is  made  in 
John  to  say,  "  I  have  finished  the  work  which 
thou  gavest  me  to  do."  What  work  did  he  accom- 
plish ?  At  his  death  he  left  a  few  poor,  ignorant  fish- 
ermen, whose  neophytes  numbered  but  a  small  frac- 
tion of  the  Jewish  people.  Until  the  conversion 
of  Paul,  —  that  happened  after  Christ's  death,  — 
there  was  no  attempt  by  Christ's  disciples  to  dis- 
seminate his  doctrine  among  Gentile  people.  The 
churches  beyond  Judea  were  all  circumcised  Jews, 
but  Paul  seeing  the  deleterious  effect  of  such  a 
limited  restriction,  after  some  contention  with  the 
original  adherents  of  Christ,  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing a  new  dogma  that  Christ  died  for  all  man- 
kind who  believed  him  to  be  divine.  This  version 
of  Christ's  mission  the  writer  of  John's  Gospel  has 
attempted  to  sustain  by  his  weird  defining  of 

'65 


of 


Christ,  in  language  only  to  be  interpreted  by  learned 
metaphysicians,  and  assigning  to  him  what  he 
evidently  never  dreamed  of,  —  the  creation  of  the 
universe.  Such  preposterous  sayings  we  can  hardly 
attribute  to  Christ;  they  are  evidently  the  morbid 
lucubrations  of  their  fanatical  author. 

When  Jesus  had  finished  his  acts  of  self-lauda- 
tion in  the  Temple  that  so  offended  the  Jews,  he 
was  expelled  therefrom;  as  the  writer  mildly  ex- 
presses it,  "he  went  forth  with  his  disciples  over 
the  brook  Cedron,  where  there  was  a  garden, 
into  which  he  entered."  That  this  was  a  place  of 
hiding  to  which  he  escaped  is  made  manifest  by 
the  statement  that  "  Judas,  who  betrayed  him,  knew 
of  this  place/'  and  went  there  accompanied  by  a 
band  of  men  and  officers,  with  lanterns,  torches, 
and  weapons,  showing  it  was  by  night,  when,  as 
Judas  knew,  he  would  not  be  strongly  guarded; 
notwithstanding  the  weakness  of  his  guard,  they 
did  attempt  resistance,  which  Judas  evidently 
expected,  as  he  brought  an  armed  force  with  him. 
The  band  had  a  captain  and  officers,  who  took 
Jesus  and  bound  him  and  led  him  away. 

After  a  somewhat  minute  relation  of  incidents 
before  the  high  priest,  and  the  episode  of  Peter, 
who  had  been  given  the  keys  of  heaven,  denying 
166 


Supernatural  (ganctptiaug 

any  knowledge  of  him,  there  is  but  a  meagre  account 
of  the  trial  of  Jesus  before  the  high  priest  and 
Pilate,  —  the  most  important  crisis  in  Christian 
history,  —  leaving  the  event  in  a  nebulous  state 
best  adapted  to  the  imaginative  construction  of 
subsequent  believers. 

Jesus  had  evidently  in  the  eyes  of  the  Jews  dese- 
crated the  Temple  with  his  host  of  followers  that 
the  authorities  were  for  a  time  unable  to  resist. 
This  was  deemed  by  them  a  heinous  crime  which 
they  had  no  power  to  punish;  so  he  was  turned 
over  to  the  Roman  governor  upon  the  charge  of 
trying  to  make  himself  King  of  the  Jews  in  dere- 
liction of  Roman  law.  What  the  proof  was  that 
established  the  charge  is  not  made  more  clear  in 
this  than  in  the  preceding  Gospels;  and  while 
Pilate  might  not  have  thought  the  insurrection 
formidable,  he  evidently  considered  it  worthy  of 
death,  especially  as  under  Jewish  law  he  would 
have  been  executed  for  taking  possession  of  the 
Temple.  But  Pilate  meant  to  have  it  clearly  under- 
stood that  Jesus  was  not  executed  for  any  infringe- 
ment of  Jewish  law,  but  for  an  infraction  of  the  Ro- 
man law,  by  assuming  to  be  King  of  the  Jews.  This 
he  emphasized  by  a  legend  in  three  languages 
displayed  on  the  cross,  that  all  might  understand. 


of 


The  author  of  this  Gospel  introduces  an  episode 
which,  if  there  were  no  other  proof,  would  clearly 
show  the  total  unreliability  of  this  record;  he  states 
that  the  mother  of  Jesus  and  his  disciple  stood  by 
the  cross  with  two  other  Marys,  and  Jesus  con- 
versed with  them,  while  the  other  Gospels  omit  all 
mention  of  his  mother  at  the  execution,  but  they 
distinctly  mention  the  three  Marys,  of  whom  his 
mother  was  not  one,  that  "  stood  afar  off,"  evi- 
dently too  far  to  speak  with  him  ;  and  we  know  that 
under  Roman  rule  his  relatives  would  not  have  been 
allowed  to  approach  him;  and  further,  the  husband 
of  Mary  and  her  children  living  were  probably  bet- 
ter able  and  more  likely  to  care  for  her  than  any 
disciple  of  Christ  would  be. 

The  Roman  Church  inculcates  the  dogma  that 
"  the  Father  is  God,  the  Son  is  God,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  God,"  and  yet  there  are  not  three  Gods, 
but  only  one  God.  This  mystic  triune  God  is  still 
adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  Christian  sects,  and 
although  common  sense  repels  the  contradiction, 
faith  unreasoning  accepts  it  and  theologians  teach 
it.  This  inconceivable  dogma  was  combated  by 
some  of  the  earliest  Christians,  but  the  weight  of 
power  was  against  them;  and  after  fearful  martyr- 
dom they  were  silenced.  That  was  established  in 
1  68 


Supernatural  (Conceptions 

an  age  when  fire  and  fagots  were  more  potent  ar- 
guments than  reason.  In  later  days  the  heresy  that 
Christ  was  subordinate  and  the  emissary  of  God  is 
now  allowed  a  place  unmolested  through  the  ame- 
liorating influence  of  modern  civilization  that  an 
earlier  Christian  age  would  not  have  tolerated. 
The  struggle  to  make  three  persons,  each  a  very 
God,  one  God,  was  a  fearful  strain  on  common 
sense  controlled  by  faith,  which  appears  to  the  un- 
biassed onlooker  like  credulity  and  superstition. 

While  the  r6le  of  iconoclast  is  undesirable,  and  an 
offence  to  worshippers,  never  inuring  beneficially  or 
happily  to  an  earnest  and  sincere  destroyer  of  the 
idols  of  those  for  whose  benefit  and  welfare  he  is 
seeking,  he  receives  for  his  reward  vituperation  and 
slander.  But  if  the  present  civilized  world  is  in 
this  new  country  to  make  a  distinguished  advance 
in  science  and  the  elevating  morals  of  high  culture, 
it  must  abandon  the  fetish  of  the  Hebrew  God  and 
the  superstitious  worship  of  his  immaculate  Son; 
and  with  them  the  fables  of  supernatural  appear- 
ances, miracles,  and  revelations,  that  have  all  origi- 
nated in  the  fertile  human  brain,  bewildered  by 
multiplex  supernatural  phenomena  that  have  been, 
and  still  are,  promulgated. 

Waiving  further  details  of  the  anomalous  tradi- 

.69 


of 


tional  record  of  the  life  of  Christ  found  in  the  Bible, 
that  has  for  so  many  centuries  dominated  the  belief 
of  the  most  advanced  nations,  unsupported  by  any 
collateral  or  contemporary  evidence,  which  still 
maintains  a  place  in  the  educated  world  due  to  the 
aberration  of  early  education  (a  formidable  antag- 
onist to  independent  thought  and  investigation); 
aided  by  a  reluctance  to  disturb  the  established 
order  of  things  that  for  centuries  has  been  control- 
ling the  thoughts  and  acts  of  men  ;  and  the  fear  that 
it  might  create  disorganization  in  the  social  world 
by  destroying  the  current  interests,  established  priv- 
ileges, and  prerogatives  of  individual,  national,  and 
preeminently  the  theological  organizations. 

So  far  has  persistent  iteration  and  reiteration 
claimed  the  Christian  religion  as  a  synonym  for 
goodness  and  virtue,  and  the  guardian  of  morality, 
that  it  is  generally  believed  in  by  Christians,  while 
the  converse  is  asserted  to  be  immorality  and  abom- 
ination. An  examination  of  this  claim  by  unbiassed 
and  disinterested  investigation  will  show  that  a  belief 
in  the  divinity  of  Christ  has  no  relation  to  morals, 
as  has  been  fully  shown  in  the  annals  of  the  dark 
ages  of  European  history.  The  corrupt  Popish  su- 
premacy —  the  horrors  of  the  Inquisition  —  and  the 
prolonged  struggle  of  knowledge  and  truth  for  a 

170 


Supernatural  (CautqHious 

place  in  the  world,  with  the  antagonism  and  acts  of 
the  churches  against  liberalism,  have  proved  peril- 
ous to  the  champions  of  free  thought. 

If  Christianity  now  appears  in  the  role  of  morality 
and  philanthropy,  it  derives  its  true  status  of  mod- 
ern goodness,  not  from  its  teachings  displayed  when 
it  had  full  power,  but  from  modern  science  declar- 
ing independence  for  thought.  It  has  now  changed 
its  tactics,  that  required  submission  to  its  dogmas 
by  force  of  implacable  punishment,  and  is  compelled 
to  content  itself  with  ostracism  and  moral  suasion 
generally,  for  its  opponents  in  this  country,  thanks 
to  the  foresight  of  the  founders  of  our  independence. 
But  even  here  there  are  restless  bigots  that  are  cov- 
ertly striving  to  drag  the  government  into  a  recog- 
nition of  their  dogmas  for  a  national  religion, 
against  which  the  founders  of  the  Republic  care- 
fully guarded  the  Constitution.  The  sinister  attacks 
of  Christian  dogmatists  heretofore  on  the  policy  of 
nations  have  been  the  cause  of  many,  if  not  most, 
of  the  wars  that  have  disturbed  the  peace  of  the 
world. 


171 


of 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINE  AND  RULE 

IT  is  interesting  to  inquire  what  the  fundamental 
doctrines  are  that  form  the  basis  of  the  varied 
Christian  beliefs.  We  are  met  here  with  an  endless 
confusion  of  dogmas,  that  have  most  of  them  passed 
through  the  fire  of  persecution,  vituperation,  chas- 
tisement, and  anathema  from  fellow  Christians,  for 
believing,  or  not  believing,  certain  creeds  or  tenets 
deemed  essential  to  salvation.  As  the  times  for 
penalties  to  life  and  limb  for  adverse  opinions  have 
gone  out  of  fashion,  and  fines  and  imprisonment 
have  nearly  disappeared  for  transgressing  canoni- 
cal laws,  we  may  venture  to  look  a  little  into  the 
present  Christian  cults,  well  knowing  that  we  may 
be  criticized  by  the  numerous  sectarians,  each  of 
whose  several  creeds  is  assumed  to  be  the  true 
one. 

Christianity  has  no  raison  d'etre  if  the  story  in 
172 


Supernatural 


Genesis  is  not  true,  wherein  Adam  and  Eve  ate  the 
fruit  from  the  forbidden  tree  in  search  of  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil,  that  God  especially  desired 
they  should  not  acquire.  If  there  had  been  no  orig- 
inal sin,  a  Redeemer  would  have  been  unnecessary. 
Why  this  temptation  should  have  been  put  in  the 
way  of  the  beings  God  had  made  in  his  own  image, 
if  he  intended  to  keep  them  in  ignorance,  is  an 
enigma,  but,  stranger  still,  why  he  should  desire  to 
keep  them  in  ignorance  of  good  and  evil  is  a  prob- 
lem quite  too  deep  for  us  to  solve.  We  leave  it  to 
the  theologians,  knowing  that  it  is  a  dogma  strictly 
adhered  to  at  least  by  the  Roman  Church,  followed 
by  Protestants  generally,  with  facile  casuistry  when 
uncomfortable  truths  antagonize  their  doctrines, 
The  tenet  of  original  sin  through  Adam's  disobedi- 
ence is  a  fundamental  proposition  upon  which  the 
religion  of  Christianity  is  founded  ;  hence,  the  neces- 
sity for  a  Redeemer,  a  Saviour. 

The  Jews'  tradition  that  a  Messiah  would  appear 
to  redeem  them  from  the  thraldom  of  a  foreign 
ruler  was  not  a  redemption  from  God's  wrath,  but 
from  the  power  of  men.  Christ  assumed,  as  the 
record  shows,  to  be  the  promised  Messiah,  and  was 
hailed  as  such  by  his  followers;  "a  great  multi- 
tude "  shouting,  and  announcing  him  as  "  King  of 


of 


the  Jews."  With  regal  status  he  entered  the  Tem- 
ple with  an  army  of  followers,  and  drove  out  its  oc- 
cupants, as  we  have  seen,  much  to  the  horror  of  the 
priests  and  others  in  authority.  He  declared  that 
he  came  for  the  salvation  of  the  Jews  alone,  and 
grudgingly  performed  a  miracle  for  an  outsider. 

He  believed  the  Babylonian  account  of  the  crea- 
tion copied  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures  was  true,  as 
well  as  the  wondrous  tales  of  the  prophets  and 
kings.  While  he  announced  himself  to  be  the  "  Son 
of  Man,"  he  in  no  case  claimed  a  miraculous  pro- 
genitor. If  he  was  a  descendant  of  David,  as  it  is 
claimed  he  was,  he  must  have  been  Joseph's  son,  as 
he  was  declared  to  be  by  his  mother,  and  was  under- 
stood to  be  by  others.  He  began  his  public  career 
as  "  king  "  in  Jerusalem,  and  his  mission  was  on 
Jewish  territory  during  his  short  active  life.  The 
meagre  record  tells  but  little  except  his  preaching 
and  his  miracles,  although  crowds  are  reported  as 
following  him.  All  overt  acts  committed  by  them 
under  his  sanction  were  failures,  and  are  carefully 
omitted.  We  only  know  incidentally  from  his  own 
lips  that  he  came  for  war,  not  peace,  indicating  a 
fierce  civil  contest,  and  his  subsequent  acts  were 
deemed  sufficiently  criminal  to  merit  death,  which 
was  awarded  him  by  the  Roman  governor.  The 


character  given  of  his  offence,  which  was  blazoned 
upon  his  cross,  shows  that  he  tried  to  inaugurate  a 
kingdom.  His  utterances  after  his  cause  was  lost, 
if  correctly  reported,  avail  nothing  in  explanation 
or  expiation  of  his  guilt.  The  healings  and  resur- 
rections recorded  of  him  are  more  numerous  than 
those  of  modern  Christian  Scientists,  —  even  Mrs. 
Eddy  herself  and  the  numerous  herd  of  uneducated 
healers  that  have  beguiled  the  credulous  in  modern 
times  have  not  exceeded  him. 

After  Christ  had  been  some  time  dead,  a  sect  of 
Nazarenes  sprang  up  under  the  leadership  of  Paul 
that  began  to  deify  him,  and  in  that  superstitious 
age  they  magnified  him  into  a  god.  The  dogma 
was  propounded  that  as  all  the  world  had  sinned 
through  Adam,  to  the  great  offending  of  God,  Christ 
came  to  redeem  it,  and  reconcile  the  offended  Father 
with  his  offending  people,  after  innumerable  nations 
had  come  and  gone.  Strange  as  this  dogma  is,  they 
went  still  further  and,  in  accordance  with  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Jews  and  other  barbarous  nations,  they 
attributed  a  sacrifice  of  blood  necessary  for  salva- 
tion, to  account  for  Christ's  execution,  and  claimed 
that  he  laid  down  his  life  to  save  sinners ;  while  their 
acknowledged  and  received  tradition  showed  that 
he  laid  down  his  life  for  assuming  to  be  "  King  of 
'75 


of 


the  Jews,"  and  had  taken  active  means  to  make 
himself  so. 

The  theory  that  Jesus  died  for  sinners  is  made 
a  fundamental  doctrine;  and  prayers  and  suppli- 
cations go  up  to-day  to  "  the  Saviour  who  died  for 
our  sins."  In  order  to  glorify  him,  much  spiritual 
and  metaphysical  glamour  has  been  made  to  sur- 
round a  very  plain  tale;  and  the  intellectual  abil- 
ity of  many  of  the  highest,  purest,  and  most  tran- 
scendent minds  has  been  exhausted  in  aggrandiz- 
ing him.  The  unaccountable  phases  of  human 
hallucination  frequently  cause  surprise  to  those 
who  approach  the  mental  problem  from  distinctly 
different  points  of  view.  We  often  hear  the  high- 
est expositions  of  morals  and  culture,  from  men 
whose  learning  and  clear  perception  of  the  best 
achievements  of  man  have  been  acquired  from 
profound  personal  observation,  preached  from  in- 
consequent Bible  texts,  under  the  hallucination  that 
the  inspiration  came  from  the  divine  words  of  an 
unknown  author,  whose  knowledge  and  ability 
were  as  far  below  the  modem  teacher  as  is  the 
distance  in  time  between  them.1 

1  1  once  saw  an  exposition  of  this  in  a  sermon,  written  to  prove 
the  fallibility  of  inspiration  from  Biblical  texts,  which  was  de- 
veloped from  the  old  nursery  rhyme,  "Jack  and  Jill."  This  text 

176 


crouccjmous 

There  is  not  a  person  in  these  times,  having  a 
knowledge  of  the  admitted  facts  of  science,  who 
does  not  know  that  the  account  of  the  creation  in 
Genesis,  and  especially  so  much  of  it  as  relates  to 
the  creation  of  man,  is  fabulous,  as  it  does  not 
agree  with  the  known  truths  of  the  world's  history. 
All  efforts  to  reconcile  it  with  fact,  such  as  the 
puerile  attempt  to  construe  the  day  of  Genesis 
into  an  indefinite  period  of  time,  are  too  prepos- 
terous for  argument.  So  of  the  "sons  of  God" 
cohabiting  with  the  daughters  of  men,  to  produce 
an  abnormal  race  that  never  existed.  That  old 
fable  was  rife  in  legends  antecedent  to  the  Hebrew 
account  thousands  of  years.  With  such  evidence 
as  every  schoolboy  possesses,  the  fabulous  char- 
acter of  Genesis  is  shown.  Yet  the  Christian 
world  clings  to  the  God  there  depicted,  with  the 


was  very  closely  adhered  to,  but  expanded  into  a  symbolic  pre- 
sentation of  human  life,  its  aspirations  and  failures.  The  present 
civilization  attained  by  modern  culture  is  not,  and  never  could 
have  been,  developed  from  Christianity.  It  is  the  outcome  of 
independent  thought  bursting  through  the  trammels  of  religion's 
bigotry,  from  which  the  present  advance  in  a  knowledge  of  na- 
ture and  the  universe  produces  a  higher  standard  of  humanity 
that  is  now  developing.  Of  the  real  creator,  or  first  cause,  we 
know  nothing  beyond  its  visible  works,  —  it  certainly  was  not 
the  God  of  the  Jews,  nor  was  it  possessed  of  any  of  the  mutable 
or  vacillating  attributes  ascribed  to  that  God. 
177 


of 


steadfastness  of  a  Hindu  Brahman;  for  upon  it 
rests  the  whole  foundation  for  the  assumption  of 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  his  conjectured  mission. 

No  wise  man  objects  to  any  teaching  of  goodness 
that  may  be  found  in  the  Bible.  It  is  the  false 
God,  stained  with  crimes  and  wickedness,  that 
disfigures  it  with  myths  of  supernatural,  mystical, 
and  barbarously  fanatical  events,  that  are  the 
crude  figments  of  the  brains  of  uncultivated  men, 
which  should  be  eliminated  from  belief,  stultify- 
ing as  they  do  the  noblest  efforts  to  enfranchise 
the  human  mind. 

The  strange  and  illogical  doctrine  that  one  man 
can  sin  for  another,  coupled  with  the  equally  ab- 
surd conception  that  one  man  by  his  crucifixion, 
for  what  his  judges  and  his  executioners  believed 
to  be  his  crimes,  could  thereby  free  men  from  their 
sins,  seems  to  the  unbiassed  mind  of  common 
sense  to  be  so  preposterous  as  to  require  no  argu- 
ment to  refute  it.  But  the  superstition  still  lingers, 
that  the  "word  of  God,"  as  the  Bible  is  called,  is 
of  divine  origin  and  is  infallibly  true;  and  for  that 
reason  must  be  believed,  however  much  common 
sense  rebels  against  it.  This  is  strenuously  con- 
troverted, but  "reason  is  fallible,"  say  the  the- 
ologians, and  we  are  thus  encountered  by  the  para- 
178 


doxical  problem  of  a  seemingly  false  and  absurd 
tradition,  handed  down  to  us  through  ages  of  primi- 
tive fallible  men  with  an  authority  not  to  be  ques- 
tioned by  an  enlightened  era  of  fallible  men,  whose 
knowledge  of  the  universe  is  transcendently  greater 
than  the  authors  or  propagators  of  the  nebulous 
record.  A  keen  observer  of  anthropological  phe- 
nomena remarks  that  one  of  the  most  singular 
things  in  a  museum  devoted  to  that  science  is  the 
wonderful  tendency  of  the  human  mind,  when  once 
it  has  got  into  a  groove,  to  stick  there;  the  object 
of  scientific  investigation  is  to  run  counter  to  that 
tendency. 

The  deluge  of  healings,  miracles,  resurrections, 
and  other  wonders  brought  in  to  embellish  the  his- 
tory of  "  God's  chosen  people"  were  of  such  com- 
mon, every-day  repetition  in  ancient  times  as  to 
lose  their  improbability  in  uncultivated  minds 
before  the  era  of  Christ's  life,  and  ceased  to  be 
doubtful  phenomena  to  the  crowd  of  believers 
who  it  is  assumed  witnessed  them.  The  epidemic 
of  devils,  which  is  happily  extinguished  as  a  disease 
in  modern  times,  was  then  so  fearfully  prevalent 
as  to  enable  Christ  to  perform  his  most  strikingly 
characteristic  miracles. 

This  strange  and  illogical  religion  was  intro- 
179 


of 


duced  and  perpetuated  by  the  strong  arm  of  power, 
crushing  out  every  vestige  of  opposition,  adverse 
proof,  and  criticism  attempted;  until  the  burst- 
ing forth  of  scientific  discovery  ultimately  severed 
the  bonds  that  confined  the  human  mind  within 
the  shackles  of  authority,  under  penalty  of  death. 
Now,  through  the  persistent  force  of  accumulated 
acknowledge  and  demonstrated  facts,  we  are  en- 
abled to  investigate  unmolested,  except  by  ostra- 
cism and  vituperation,  every  problem  and  fact 
discovered  by  emancipated  research,  so  long  anath- 
ematized as  sacrilegious. 

We  have  seen  in  man's  earliest  contact  with 
nature,  that  his  endowment  of  ratiocination 
prompted  him  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of  the  vis- 
ible phenomena  by  which  he  was  surrounded, 
and  to  search  for  the  cause  of  the  various  objects, 
good  and  bad,  with  which  he  came  in  contact. 
This  prompted  him  to  picture  in  his  imagination 
a  superior  being  invisible  to  him,  of  vast  powers, 
capable  of  producing  works  so  much  beyond  his 
comprehension.  In  the  course  of  time  numerous 
strange  and  unaccountable  appearances  produced 
in  him  a  belief  in  the  supernatural,  that  assisted 
his  imagination  through  the  phenomena  of  dreams, 
which  materialized  in  his  brain  into  real  entities 
180 


Supernatural  CToucrjptians 

that  took  shape  as  gods  and  devils,  in  accordance 
with  the  originator's  power  of  thought;  thus  de- 
veloping hallucinations  of  miracles,  revelations, 
and  other  wonders  with  which  such  beings  were 
assumed  to  be  endowed.  It  is  a  significant  fact 
that  no  such  phenomena  have  ever  taken  place 
within  the  personal  knowledge  of  any  unbiassed, 
enlightened,  intelligent,  and  truthful  individual 
now  living;  they  never  happen  at  the  present  day 
in  the  face  of  impartial  investigation,  but  only  in 
the  traditionary  past. 

There  is  no  authoritative  record  of  Christ  known 
of  earlier  date  than  the  second  century  after  his 
death;  certainly  none  of  the  copies  of  the  Gospels 
extant  were  written  before  that  time.  They  are 
chronicles  named  for,  and  claimed  to  be  accord- 
ing to,  certain  disciples,  by  unknown  authors. 

There  is  a  persistent  effort  to  connect  the  Chris- 
tian dogma  with  all  the  modern  acts  of  philanthropy, 
charity,  and  education  (to  which  we  have  seen  it 
was  an  early  foe),  together  with  all  the  amenities 
of  modern  culture,  that  are  the  fruits  of  neoteric 
advancement  in  science,  dominating  all  branches 
that  are  connected  with  social  economy.  Many 
noble  men  and  women  are  firm  believers  in  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  and  are  desirous  to  glorify  it  by  their 
181 


iTljc  (Drigfn  of 

self-sacrificing  and  benevolent  acts;  but  the  true 
impulse  comes  from  their  own  refined  natures, 
aided  by  the  experience  they  have  attained  from 
the  spread  of  true  knowledge  and  science,  that 
shows  them  their  just  relations  to  the  world,  and 
their  place  in  it,  imparting  to  them  a  clearer  insight 
into  the  real  claims,  duties,  and  rights  of  mankind 
toward  their  fellow  men,  which  they  unwittingly 
attribute  to  Christianity. 

In  all  ages,  and  in  every  known  religion,  there 
have  been  enthusiasts  and  martyrs.  Innumera- 
ble devotees  have  yielded  up  their  lives  rather 
than  abjure  the  dogmas  they  believed  to  be  true; 
while  their  executioners,  quite  as  fanatical,  thought 
they  served  God  by  destroying  them.  We  are 
still  cursed  with  the  residuum  retained  by  religion 
that  pervades  many  sects.  Some  men  have  immo- 
lated themselves  without  regard  to  the  logical 
consequences,  or  the  good  or  evil  to  the  rest  of 
the  world,  all  to  glorify  God;  as  if  their  acts  could 
do  so.  In  this  particular  the  Hindus,  and  many 
savage  tribes,  exceed  the  Christians;  but  the  hor- 
rors of  martyrdom  inflicted  by  the  Christian  Church 
have  equalled,  if  they  have  not  surpassed,  all  other 
religions.  Such  persecutions  continued  down  to 
the  days  of  the  evolution  of  modern  science,  that 
182 


(Jtonuptions 


included  with  its  battle  for  the  cosmology  of  the 
universe  a  war  for  the  freedom  of  thought. 

The  contest  for  the  emancipation  of  mankind  is 
not  over  yet.  The  fanatical  religionists  are  still 
persistent  here,  urging  the  Congress  and  State 
legislatures  to  pass  ecclesiastical  and  sumptuary 
laws;  which  they  have  succeeded  in  doing  in  Sab- 
batarian and  other  like  legislation,  in  direct  con- 
travention of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The  framers 
of  the  Constitution  took  care  to  keep  out  of  it  a 
declaration  that  this  was  a  Christian  nation,  or 
that  we  had  any  national  religion.  They  de- 
clared that  every  one  should  have  the  right  to  wor- 
ship as  his  conscience  dictated,  whatever  his  relig- 
ion might  be.  But  this  right  has  been  ruthlessly 
trampled  on  in  most  of  the  States,  and  by  Congress. 
By  enacting  Sunday  restrictions,  for  which  they 
have  not  the  plea  of  their  God's  command  :  by  such 
legislation  they  outrage  the  rights  of  seventh-day 
Christians,  Jews,  and  all  other  religionists  who 
keep  other  days  of  the  week  holy,  and  who  be- 
lieve they  have  God's  command  to  work  on  Sun- 
day. The  law  compelling  them  to  observe  the 
Christian  Sunday  under  penalty  for  its  trans- 
gression clearly  violates  their  rights.  But  this  is 

183 


of 


not  all:  the  fanatics,  not  content  with  freedom 
to  worship  their  God,  unmolested,  as  their  con- 
science dictates,  are  striving,  not  openly  but  co- 
vertly, to  bind  the  nation  to  the  adoption  of  their 
religion,  and  bring  the  government  under  their 
domination.  When  that  is  accomplished  can  any 
one  doubt,  if  either  of  the  Christian  sects  gains 
ascendency  (the  Roman  Catholic,  for  instance), 
that  it  will  expunge  all  the  others  if  it  has  the  power, 
as  it  has  done  in  former  times  ? 

Our  forefathers  had  the  wisdom  to  see  that  re- 
ligious controversy  was  a  fruitful  source  of  most 
of  the  wars  and  contentions  of  the  world;  and 
they  determined  to  eliminate  that  cause  from  this 
land  of  liberty.  They  consequently  ignored  it  in 
the  Constitution,  and  cut  off  the  right  to  legislate 
on  that  subject.  This  paved  the  way  to  real  lib- 
erty, and  with  it  real  peace.  But  we  see  a  con- 
stant creeping  in  of  seemingly  harmless  innova- 
tions. As  God  is  not  named  in  the  Constitution, 
a  legend  has  been  put  upon  our  coin,  "In  God 
we  trust."  From  a  Christian  point  of  view  this 
should  be  sacrilegious;  from  an  agnostic  point 
of  view  it  is  silly  and  unmeaning.  To  place  the 
legend  upon  medals  is  a  question  of  aesthetic  taste, 
but  to  blazon  upon  '  '  filthy  lucre  '  '  the  hallowed 
184 


name  of  God,  to  be  bandied  about  by  the  most 
depraved,  whose  motto  would  be,  "In  grog  we 
trust,"  to  be  passed  over  barroom  counters  by  inebri- 
ate ruffians  for  their  drinks,  is  more  than  question- 
able. This  same  holy  legend  is  also  made  the  pur- 
veyor that  secures  a  welcome  in  bawdy  houses  and 
gambling  dens ;  and  is  nowhere  more  fervently  wor- 
shipped than  by  burglars  and  pickpockets,  to  say 
nothing  of  its  power  to  lure  innocence  from  virtue. 
It  may  well  be  asked  what  good  this  legend  is  ex- 
pected to  effect  by  being  placed  upon  the  coin  of 
the  realm.  The  conspirators  did  not  expect  any, 
per  se,  but  hoped  to  enter  the  thin  point  of  a  wedge 
into  legislation,  by  which  they  could  drive  home 
the  whole  body  of  sectarianism,  and  finally  to  be 
strong  enough  to  enforce  religious  legislation  upon 
the  people,  which  is  expressly  prohibited  by  the 
Constitution.  The  world  has  had  a  dire  experi- 
ence under  ecclesiastical  rule,  and  should  guard 
against  the  peril  of  a  repetition  of  it.  Such  sinis- 
ter chicanery  is  characteristic  of  religious  dogma- 
tists, against  whom  all  liberty-lovers  should  keep 
careful  guard  in  future  legislation. 

The  curse  of  all  nations  has  been  theologic  rule. 
The  attempt  to  govern  the  thoughts  and  acts  of 
men  by  creeds  and  dogmas,  enacting  laws  in  ac- 

185 


of 


cordance  with  the  particular  creed  of  the  major- 
ity, and  forcing  others  to  comply  with  their  nar- 
row tenets,  is  the  outcome  of  bigotry,  constantly 
attempted,  and  should  be  carefully  guarded  against. 
In  former  times  any  dereliction  from  the  prescribed 
rule  was  visited  with  penalties  of  the  most  rancor- 
ous type;  often  inflicted  on  persons  of  the  pur- 
est character,  whose  consciences  would  not  permit 
them  to  comply  with  the  laws  of  their  ecclesiasti- 
cal oppressors.  In  a  city  under  the  rule  of  the 
Scottish  Kirk  (that  has  been  called  the  wickedest 
city  in  the  world),  beadles  searched  the  streets 
on  Sunday  during  religious  services  to  arrest  all 
persons  found  out  in  the  thoroughfares,  and  com- 
pelled them  to  attend  religious  services.  Penal- 
ties have  been  enacted  against  all  secular  employ- 
ment on  Sunday  in  modern  states  under  Chris- 
tian domination,  in  imitation  of  the  old  Levitical 
law  regarding  the  Sabbath  (Saturday),  which  most 
Christians  disobey.  For  this  there  is  no  pretence 
of  divine  command,  such  as  the  Jews  claim  for 
their  Sabbath.  All  interference  with  the  rights 
of  man  is  demoralizing;  and  being  religious  leg- 
islation, it  is  forbidden  by  the  Constitution.  This 
is  of  no  avail,  however,  against  the  rulings  of  a 
sectarian  court.  The  attempt  to  make  men  good 
186 


Supernatural 

by  legislative  act  is  abortive.  Goodness  has  its 
seat  in  the  intellect,  and  does  not  consist  in  acts 
of  worship,  or  the  observance  of  a  holy  day  fic- 
titiously appointed  by  a  politician.  Until  the 
intellect  is  reached,  no  reform  is  possible ;  and  all 
constraining  and  restraining  laws,  except  those 
that  prevent  men  from  harming  their  fellow  men, 
are  reprehensible. 

It  is  said  that  the  Emperor  Napoleon  declared 
that  France  would  become  either  republican  or 
Cossack.  It  can  be  said  with  equal  certainty  that 
the  United  States  will  free  itself  from  Christian 
domination,  or  it  will  be  governed  by  the  Roman 
Church  under  the  rule  of  a  Roman  Pope,  as  is 
now  boastfully  asserted  by  Romish  priests.  That 
will  end  the  constitutional  liberty  of  the  people. 

While  showing  in  this  incomplete  sketch,  upon 
which  volumes  might  be  written,  that  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  human  mind  is  based  upon  and  directed 
by  the  observation  of  its  natural  surroundings, 
evolved  from  man's  powers  of  ratiocination,  there 
is  no  admissible  evidence  that  he  ever  received 
any  extraneous  aid  from  a  supernatural  source. 
History  is  full  of  wise,  just,  and  profound  sayings, 
uttered  in  the  earliest  stages  of  man's  escape  from 
barbarism;  brilliant  flashes  of  intellect  emanated 

187 


of 


from  dull  clouds  of  popular  concepts.  These  shin- 
ing meteors  of  ancient  thought  were  comprehen- 
sible by  men  without  divine  interpretation,  and 
served  to  advance  them  on  their  way  to  correct 
knowledge.  Many  of  the  authors  of  these  teach- 
ings were  worshipped  for  the  assumption  of  divine 
revelations. 

Buddha,  an  epithet  meaning  the  Wise  or  En- 
lightened One,  whose  advent  is  variously  esti- 
mated from  1  100  to  600  B.  c.,  was  a  teacher  whose 
doctrines  still  control  the  belief  of  a  larger  body 
of  sectarians  than  does  any  other  religion  of  the 
present  day.  There  is  a  remarkable  coincidence 
between  the  history  of  this  great  teacher  and  Christ's 
advent,  which  has  been  clearly  told  by  Dr.  Felix 
S.  Oswald,  whose  version  I  shall  follow,  noting  that 
this  religion  was  established  long  before  the  era 
of  Christ,  and  was  in  his  day  well  known  through- 
out the  East. 

Buddha,  like  Christ,  was  of  royal  lineage;  he 
was  born  of  a  mother  who,  though  married,  was 
still  a  virgin.  The  birth  of  a  future  Saviour  (Bud- 
dha) was  announced  by  a  heavenly  messenger. 
An  apparition  which  Maya  (Buddha's  mother) 
sees  in  a  dream  informs  her,  "  Thou  shalt  be  filled 
with  highest  joy.  Behold  thou  shalt  bring  forth 
188 


Supernatural  <£ancriitions 

a  son  bearing  the  mystic  signs  of  Buddha,  who  shall 
become  a  sacrifice  for  the  dwellers  of  the  earth, 
a  Saviour  who  to  all  men  shall  give  joy  and  glori- 
ous fruits  of  immortality"  (Rgya.  Cherrol-pan., 
61,  62).  At  the  request  of  Maya,  King  Sudo- 
dhana  renounced  his  connubial  rights  till  she  had 
brought  forth  her  first  son  (Rgya.,  69,  82). 

The  immortals  of  the  Tushita-Heaven  decide 
that  Buddha  shall  be  born  when  the  "  flower  star" 
makes  its  first  appearance  in  the  east  (Lefmann, 
21,  124).  A  host  of  angelic  messengers  descend 
and  announce  tidings  of  great  joy.  "  A  hero, 
glorious  and  incomparable,  has  been  born,  a  Sa- 
viour unto  all  nations  of  the  earth !  A  deliverer  has 
brought  joy  and  peace  to  earth  and  heaven"  (Lotus, 
102,  114;  Rgya.,  89,  97).  Princes  and  wise  Brah- 
mans  appear  with  gifts  and  worship  the  child 
Buddha  (Rgya.,  97,  113).  The  Brahman  Asita, 
to  whom  the  spirit  has  revealed  the  advent  of  Bud- 
dha, descends  from  his  hermitage  on  the  Hima- 
laya to  see  the  new-born  child.  He  predicts  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  Buddha's 
mission  to  save  and  enlighten  the  world  (Sutta 
Nipatha,  iiill).  The  Allinish  Kramana  Sutra  re- 
lates that  the  King  of  Magada  instructed  one  of 
his  ministers  to  institute  an  inquiry  whether  any 
189 


of 


inhabitant  of  his  kingdom  could  possibly  become 
powerful  enough  to  endanger  the  safety  of  his 
throne.  Two  spies  are  sent  out;  one  of  them  as- 
certains the  birth  of  Buddha,  and  advises  the  king 
to  take  steps  for  the  extermination  of  his  tribe. 
The  princes  of  the  Sacya  tribe  urge  the  king  to 
present  his  son  in  a  public  assembly  of  nobles  and 
priests.  Spirits  accompany  the  march  of  the  pro- 
cession; inspired  prophets  extol  the  future  glory 
of  the  Messiah.  Buddha's  parents  miss  the  boy 
one  day,  and  after  a  long  search  for  him  find  him 
in  an  assembly  of  holy  Rishis,  who  listen  to  his 
discourse  and  marvel  at  his  understanding  (Bud- 
dhist Birth  Stories,  64).  Buddha,  before  enter- 
ing on  his  mission,  meets  the  Brahman  Rudraka, 
a  mighty  preacher,  who,  however,  offers  to  become 
his  disciple. 

Some  of  Rudraka's  followers  secede  to  Buddha, 
but  leave  him  when  they  find  that  he  does  not 
observe  the  fasts.  Buddha  retires  to  the  solitude 
of  Usuvilva,  and  fasts  and  prays  in  the  desert  until 
hunger  forces  him  to  leave  his  retreat  (Rgya., 
364;  Oldenburg's  Mahavagga,  116).  After  fin- 
ishing his  fast,  Buddha  takes  a  bath  in  the  river 
Nairanjana;  when  he  leaves  the  water,  purified, 
the  devas  open  the  gates  of  heaven  and  cover  him 
190 


Supernatural 


with  a  shower  of  fragrant  flowers  (Rgya.,  259). 
During  Buddha's  fast  in  the  desert,  Mara,  the 
prince  of  darkness,  approaches  him  and  tempts 
him  with  promises  of  wealth  and  earthly  glory. 
Buddha  rejects  this  offer  by  quoting  passages  of 
the  Vedas,  and  the  tempter  flees,  and  angels  de- 
scend and  salute  Buddha  (Dhammwadam,  vii., 
33).  There  are  numerous  other  parallels  between 
the  two  accounts  equally  striking,  such  as  Judas 
among  his  disciples,  the  woman  at  the  well,  and 
the  tremblings  of  the  earth  at  his  death. 

This  brief  synopsis  of  the  legend  of  Buddha 
needs  no  comment,  but  is  significant  when  com- 
pared with  the  Christian  legend  written  six  hun- 
dred years  afterward.  If  it  had  been  written  six 
hundred  years  after  Christ,  we  should  unhesita- 
tingly pronounce  it  a  plagiarism  on  the  Bible  ac- 
count. The  inexorable  fact  cuts  off  that  argu- 
ment. 

Confucius  was  a  moralist  of  high  attainments, 
born  some  six  hundred  years  before  our  era.  His 
teachings  served  to  concentrate  and  perpetuate 
the  oldest  civilization  in  the  world,  that  has  con- 
tinued to  the  present  day;  numbering  more  in- 
habitants under  one  government  than  any  other 
nation.  Confucius  taught,  according  to  his  writ- 
191 


of 


ings,  obedience  to  the  sovereign  power;  and  in 
the  relation  of  children  to  parents,  and  the  young 
to  their  elders,  deference  and  obedience  was  taught 
as  a  cardinal  virtue.  This  is  more  strictly  enjoined 
and  practised  in  China  than  in  Christian  lands, 
extending  to  a  devotion  to  the  memory  of  their 
hallowed  ancestors  as  a  national  usage. 

The  Mohammedan  religion,  that  arose  in  the 
fifth  century  of  our  era,  lays  claim,  as  did  all  its 
predecessors,  to  a  divine  origin.  In  the  revelations 
recorded  in  the  Koran  a  high  morality  was  taught, 
hi  accordance  with  the  civilization  of  the  times  and 
attendant  usages.  The  conception  of  the  deity 
was  less  complex  and  ambiguous  than  that  of  the 
Christians.  God  is  defined  in  the  shortest  chap- 
ter of  the  Koran  (chap,  cxii.)  :  "  Say,  God  is  one 
God,  the  eternal  God;  he  begetteth  not,  neither 
is  he  begotten  ;  and  there  is  not  any  one  like  him." 
This  emphasizes  the  marked  dissent  of  the  Mo- 
hammedans from  the  Christian  "  Son  of  God." 
This  faith,  coming  nearly  six  hundred  years  after 
Christ,  attained  a  much  more  extended  and  rapid 
dissemination,  with  quite  as  pronounced  and  fer- 
vent worshippers.  Mohammedanism  spread  east- 
ward among  a  mystic  and  warlike  people,  unpro- 
gressive  in  domestic  arts,  but  highly  impressiona- 
192 


Supernatural  (Conceptions 

ble;  while  the  western  course  of  the  Christian 
dogma  was  .also  spread,  by  force  of  dominant 
power,  through  settled  populations,  active,  indus- 
trious and  progressive,  with  a  spirit  irrepressible 
and  inventive;  a  people  that  would  eventually 
burst  the  bonds  of  fanaticism,  which  hampered 
thought  and  action.  The  result  was  the  investi- 
gation of  nature  that  the  persistent  efforts  of  re- 
ligion could  not  suppress,  which  demonstrated  the 
errors  of  the  infallible  Church,  that  soon  split  into 
many  sects  warring  against  each  other,  and  against 
all  scientific  investigators  that  were  seeking  to 
expose  the  error  of  trying  to  restrict  human  knowl- 
edge attained  by  a  careful  study  of  nature,  which 
their  religion  forbade;  suppressing  all  efforts  for 
the  acquirement  of  knowledge  untrammelled  by 
tradition  or  supernatural  agency.  The  warfare 
for  knowledge  slowly  but  surely  advanced  the 
European  world  in  the  enfranchisement  of  free 
investigation,  and  a  disillusion  as  to  the  power  of 
the  Church  to  dominate  and  control  men's  thoughts. 
The  war  of  science  upon  the  vested  rights  of 
theology  has  achieved  an  advancement  in  civil- 
ization and  correct  knowledge,  with  a  fading  away 
of  the  superstition  and  intolerance  that  disfigured 
Christianity  down  to  recent  times.  This  elevated 
'93 


of 


Europe  and  America  above  the  older  nations  of 
the  world.  The  merit  for  it  is  now  claimed  by 
theologians  as  due  to  Christianity,  that  fought  so 
hard  to  repress  it,  by  martyrizing  its  scientific 
opponents  and  forbidding  research  into  the  laws 
of  nature.  This  charge  may  be  brought  against 
most  of  the  Christian  sects,  of  whose  persecutions 
and  intolerance  we  may  name  the  iron  grip  of  the 
Roman  Church  in  the  height  of  its  power  through 
the  dark  ages  of  the  history  of  Europe,  with  its 
Inquisition,  auto  da  fe*,  et  cetera,  to  which  other 
sects  played  a  good  second.  This  should  warn 
people  against  the  chance  of  their  repetition;  the 
imprisonment  for  conscience'  sake,  with  fines, 
hanging,  drowning,  scourging  of  Quakers,  and 
ostracism  by  the  English  Church  (much  of  which 
was  repeated  in  this  country);  the  Calvinistic 
barbarisms  of  Geneva  and  the  Scottish  Kirk,  that 
taught,  "  The  master  of  a  family  may,  and  ought 
to,  deny  an  act  of  humanity  or  hospitality  to  stran- 
gers that  are  false  teachers.  The  Holy  Ghost  for- 
biddeth  the  master  of  every  Christian  family  to 
own  a  heretic  as  a  guest.  We  hold  that  tolera- 
tion of  all  religions  is  not  far  from  blasphemy."1 

1  Rutherford's  Disputation  against  pretended  liberty  of  con- 
science. 

194 


Supernatural 

When  the  Scottish  Kirk  was  at  the  height  of  its 
power,  we  may  search  history  in  vain  for  any  in- 
stitution that  exceeded  it  in,  fanatical  barbarity, 
except  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  All  this  shows 
how  little  Christianity  had  to  do  with  modern  cul- 
ture. Toleration  and  the  highest  benevolence  and 
morality  were  unknown  to  them. 

History  shows  us  that  since  the  establishment 
of  Christianity  there  was  no  special  enlightenment 
of  the  human  race  where  it  predominated,  till  the 
victories  of  science  over  it,  about  the  seventeenth 
century,  above  nations  having  other  faiths.  The 
Mohammedans  of  Cordova  in  Spain  were  far 
above  their  Christian  contemporaries  in  civiliza- 
tion, learning,  and  refinement;  through  them  a 
new  era  of  advancement  pervaded  Europe  in  learn- 
ing and  the  arts  of  civil  culture,  that  taught  the 
Christian  nations  a  higher  civilization. 


'95 


of 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   CHRISTIAN  DOGMAS 

WITH  the  foregoing  statement  of  facts  before  us, 
we  will  briefly  examine  the  sectarian  dogmas  that 
have  developed  from  this  strange  enigmatical  re- 
ligion. Without  going  into  the  long  and  complex 
theological  warfare  that  distracted  the  Christians 
in  the  early  centuries  of  its  predominance,  it  is  suffi- 
cient for  our  purpose  to  note  that  the  Roman 
Church  succeeded  in  gaining  the  mastery  in  west- 
ern Europe,  while  the  Greek  Church  prevailed 
in  the  east.  The  dogmas  elaborated  by  the  fathers 
of  the  religion  are  often  contradictory  and  illogi- 
cal. 

The  belief  of  the  Roman  Church  is  declared  au- 
thoritatively at  the  present  day  to  be  this :  "  There 
is  but  one  God,  a  pure  spirit  without  a  body,  con- 
sisting of  three  persons,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  neither  of  which  is  older  or  greater  than 
the  others;  all  are  equal;  the  Son  became  man. 
196 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

God  created  angels  —  each  one  of  us  has  a  guard- 
ian angel;  some  of  the  angels  sinned,  and  were 
changed  into  devils,  and  were  condemned  to  hell 
forever,  where  all  go  who  die  in  mortal  sin.  Our 
first  parents,  Adam  and  Eve,  committed  sin  by 
eating  in  the  garden  of  Paradise  the  fruit  which 
God  had  forbidden  that  they  might  show  their 
love  and  obedience  to  him  —  the  devil  tempted 
them.  They  confessed  their  sin,  repented,  and 
were  forgiven.  God  did  not  let  them  stay  in  Para- 
dise—  they  had  to  do  penance  on  earth,  which 
God  cursed;  on  account  of  this  curse  the  earth 
brings  forth  thorns  and  weeds.  They  died  in 
consequence  of  that  sin  (if  they  had  not  sinned 
no  one  would  have  to  die).  They  went  into  limbo, 
and  were  taken  into  heaven  by  Jesus  Christ  our 
Saviour."  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  and 
the  son  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary.  He  was  born 
on  Christmas  Day,  in  a  stable  at  Bethlehem.  He 
lived  over  thirty  years,  and  died  on  Good  Friday, 
to  save  us.  His  soul  descended  into  limbo  — 
where  the  saints  who  died  before  him  were  that 
did  not  go  to  heaven  after  death,  as  it  was  closed 
against  all  men  on  account  of  the  sin  of  our  first 
parents"  (some  four  thousand  years  before).  "  He 
rose  on  Easter  Sunday,  never  more  to  die;  and 
197 


<Dn0iu  of 

ascended  into  heaven  forty  days  thereafter  on 
Ascension  Thursday,  and  is  there  now  in  the  blessed 
sacrament  of  the  altar.  He  will  come  on  the  last 
day  to  judge  all  men  —  for  they  shall  rise  again 
in  their  bodies.  He  appointed  twelve  apostles, 
and  chose  St.  Peter  to  be  the  head  of  the  twelve. 
Christ  said,  *  Thou  art  Peter  —  the  rock  —  and 
on  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church.' x  The  Bishop 
of  Rome,  our  holy  Father,  the  Pope,  now  takes  his 
place.  Our  Lord  established  only  one  Church, 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  and  made  its  head 
infallible,  incapable  of  teaching  falsehood.* 

"No  one  can  be  saved  out  of  the  Church — out  of 
which  there  is  no  salvation.  Sins  are  of  two  kinds, 
mortal  and  venal;  a  mortal  sin  is  the  wilful  break- 
ing of  the  law  of  God  in  an  important  point,  because 
it  kills  the  grace  of  God  out  of  the  soul.  A  venal 
sin  is  a  breaking  of  law  in  some  less  important 
point.  Those  who  die  in  mortal  sin  go  to  hell 
for  all  eternity  —  those  who  die  in  venal  sin,  or 
have  not  satisfied  God's  justice  for  mortal  sins 
forgiven,  go  to  purgatory,  where  souls  can  be 
helped  by  prayer,  penance,  alms  and  other  good 

1  See  Matthew,  Chap.  16,  v.  23. 

8  See  Galileo's  suppression  for  teaching  what  the  infallible  Pope 
had  declared  as  false,  the  rotation  of  the  world. 
198 


Supernatural  <£oncrj)tton& 

works,  by  indulgence,  and  especially  by  holy  mass.1 
To  leave  the  true  Church  is  a  mortal  or  deadly 
sin,  and  to  omit  going  to  mass.  Sunday  is  kept 
holy  by  the  law  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Sab- 
bath is  Saturday,  kept  holy  in  the  old  law.  Jesus 
empowered  the  Catholic  Church  to  change  the  day 
of  rest  from  Saturday  to  Sunday.2  He  empowered 
his  Church  to  make  laws  binding  in  conscience. 
The  Catholic  Church  abolished  not  only  the  Sab- 
bath, but  all  the  Jewish  festivals,  and  appointed 
others  in  their  place." 

"  The  holy  eucharist,  or  blessed  sacrament,  is  the 
body,  blood,  soul,  and  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  of- 
fered up  under  the  appearance  of  bread  and  wine" — 
appearances  are  what  we  can  see,  taste,  and  touch. 
"  The  priest  changes  the  bread  and  wine  during 
holy  mass.  Mass  is  the  sacrifice  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  offered  up  under  the  appearance  of 
"bread  and  wine."  "  At  the  offertory  the  priest  offers 
bread  and  wine  to  God.  At  the  consecration  he 


1  All  the  rest  of  mankind  go  to  hell,  of  course  !     What  a  rich 
source  of  profit  for  the  priests  ! 

2  This  change  was  made  by  the  Emperor  Constantine.     For 
three  hundred  years  after  Christ,  Christians  kept  the  Sabbath 
under  Jewish  law,  until  Constantine,  the  infamous  Roman  em- 
peror, changed  it ;  that  Christ  empowered  the  change  is  utterly 
untrue. 

I99 


of 


changes  the  bread  and  wine  into  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ.  At  the  communion  he  receives  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ." 

"  The  most  wonderful  powers  possessed  by  the 
priest  are  the  power  to  change  bread  and  wine  into 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  the  power  to  for- 
give sins.  Jesus  gave  this  power  to  the  apostles  and 
their  successors  in  the  priesthood."  (New  Mission 
Book,  1896.  St.  Louis.) 

I  have  given  an  extended  quotation,  taken  from  an 
authorized  source,  of  the  religion  formulated  from 
the  Hebrew  and  Christian  Testaments  by  the  old- 
est and  most  numerous  Christian  sect  now  extant. 
It  was  evidently  systematized  to  awe  and  frighten 
its  catechumens  into  submission  to  its  authority  and 
dogmas,  which  are  never  criticized  by  those  who 
have  been  taught  to  uphold  faith  above  reason; 
hence  we  see  the  radically  illogical  statement  that 
contradictory  language  cannot  exceed,  of  three  per- 
sons all  equal  in  origin  and  functions,  each  person 
being  very  and  entire  God,  and  yet  but  one  God; 
not  a  Godhead  composed  of  three  persons,  —  that 
could  be  comprehended,  —  but  the  Trinity  is  a 
mystery  involving  three  in  one,  in  which  reason 
must  be  cast  aside  to  enable  faith  to  attain  belief. 
Faith  has  another  assumed  fact  to  encounter  in  this 

200 


Supernatural  &oiutption0 

connection,  that  the  Son  is  as  old  as  the  Father,  no 
less  an  unintelligible  enigma  than  the  other,  and 
both  undoubtedly  devised  to  evade  the  ancient  con- 
ception of  a  multiplicity  of  gods,  while  elevating  the 
Son  to  a  perfect  equality  with  the  Father,  which  in 
the  Gospels  he  strenuously  denies. 

Another  enigma  appears  in  this  record.  After 
Adam  and  Eve  sinned,  they  confessed  in  true  Roman 
Catholic  style  and  were  forgiven;  they  submitted  to 
the  penance  imposed  on  them,  were  forgiven,  and 
died.  This  it  would  seem  should  justly  end  the  mat- 
ter, but  the  avowed  result  did  not  confirm  that 
assumption.  Their  progeny  were  involved  and  had 
to  incur  the  penalty  of  death;  which  but  for  that  sin 
of  our  first  parents,  with  which  we  had  nothing  to 
do,  we  would  be  exempt  from.  Thus,  it  is  declared, 
this  original  sin  has  to  be  expiated  by  beings  born 
thousands  of  years  after  the  original  sinners  had 
their  faults  condoned,  and  on  their  part  pardoned. 
This  inheritance  of  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  for 
which  they  had  received  pardon,  incurred  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  redeemer.  This  office  was  volunteered 
by  one  of  the  persons  of  the  indivisible  God,  who 
came  down  from  heaven  and  was  incarnated,  suf- 
fering great  agony,  that  another  person  of  the  indi- 
visible God  might  be  placated ;  for  which  act  this 
201 


of 


indivisible  person  of  the  Godhead  has  been  wor- 
shipped and  glorified  more  than  the  Father  himself, 
with  lasting  glory  and  honor  from  all  true  believers 
of  the  human  race,  not  one-tenth  part  of  whom  has 
ever  heard  of  him,  and  cannot  therefore  do  him  rever- 
ence, while  of  those  who  have  heard  his  name,  and 
believe  in  him  as  their  Saviour,  only  a  fraction  can, 
according  to  the  Roman  Church,  ever  enter  into  the 
abode  of  eternal  happiness.  It  would  be  a  nice 
ethnogenic  and  theologic  question  whether  death 
is  a  punishment  or  a  blessing,  apart  from  the  fact 
that  death  was  a  law  of  nature  before  Adam  was 
born,  and  that  it  was  undoubtedly  essential  to  per- 
mit a  continuance  of  new  creations.  Much  as  we 
revere  the  ancient  sages  and  wise  men,  we  must 
realize  that  they  would  be  a  great  bore,  very  much 
in  the  way,  and  would  retard  rather  than  advance 
modern  thought  and  civilization  if  still  living; 
while  the  accumulation  of  human  life  would  dis- 
tract a  modern  Malthusian.  But  it  is  useless  to 
point  out  to  its  neophytes  the  illogical  vagaries  of 
a  still  active  belief.  It  may  be  well  to  note  the  truly 
theological  priestcraft  and  elaborated  organization, 
controlled  by  ages  of  experience  in  adapting  this 
creed  to  the  credulity  of  men,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  aggrandizement  of  priests,  bishops, 
202 


Supernatural 


and  Pope  in  one  consolidated  hierarchy.  The 
scheme  is  inimitable.  Under  the  cloak  of  goodness, 
self-abnegation,  and  assumption  of  patriarchal  care 
of  men's  souls,  that  is  made  to  appear  so  disinter- 
ested it  bars  with  iron  will  all  investigation,  by 
threats  of  eternal  punishment,  terrifying  the  be- 
liever, but  unsubstantial  as  ambient  air.  Until 
men  can  be  divested  of  a  belief  in  the  fabulous  idea 
of  a  supernatural  power,  miracles,  revelations  from 
God,  and  all  other  unnatural  aids,  logical  argu- 
ment will  fail  with  them. 

The  Protestant  English  Church,  an  offspring  of 
the  Roman,  differs  from  it  by  pruning  off  some  of 
its  crudest  features  of  superstition,  but  retaining  the 
mystical  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  a  somewhat 
modified  form.  It  declares,  "  There  is  but  one  liv- 
ing and  true  God,  everlasting,  without  body,  parts, 
or  passions;  of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  goodness; 
the  maker  and  preserver  of  all  things.  In  unity  of 
this  Godhead  there  be  three  persons  of  one  sub 
stance,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  The  Son 
is  the  Word  of  the  Father  from  everlasting  by  the 
Father,  the  very  and  eternal  God,  and  of  one  sub- 
stance with  the  Father;  took  man's  nature  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  of  her  substance;  so  that  the  two 
whole  and  perfect  natures,  that  is  to  say,  the  God- 
203 


of 


head  and  manhood,  were  joined  together  in  one  per- 
son, never  to  be  divided,  whereof  is  one  Christ,  very 
God,  and  very  man,  who  truly  suffered,  was  cruci- 
fied, dead,  and  buried  to  reconcile  his  Father  to  us, 
and  to  be  a  sacrifice,  not  only  for  original  guilt,  but 
also  for  actual  sins  of  men.  As  Christ  died  and  was 
buried,  so  also  it  is  believed  he  went  down  into  hell, 
and  did  truly  rise  again,  and  took  his  body,  with 
flesh,  bones,  and  all  things  appertaining  to  the  per- 
fection of  man's  nature,  wherewith  he  ascended 
into  heaven,  and  there  sitteth,  until  he  return  to 
judge  all  men  at  the  last  day."  "  The  Holy  Ghost, 
proceeding  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  is  of  one 
substance,  majesty,  and  glory  with  them,  very  and 
eternal  God."  ' 

The  doctrine  of  original  sin  differs  from  the  Ro- 
manists', but  is  essentially  the  same.  Of  free-will  it 
is  asserted  that  "  Man  since  the  fall  of  Adam  can- 
not turn  and  prepare  himself  by  his  own  natural 
strength  and  good  works,  without  the  grace  of  God 
by  faith  in  the  merit  of  Christ,  and  not  for  our  own 
works  and  deservings  —  good  works  cannot  put 

1  What  the  difference  is  between  body  and  substance  must  be 
left  for  the  theologians  to  explain.     The  definition  of  the  Son  is 
taken  from  the  rhapsodical  Gospel  of  St.  John  —  very  doubtful 
authority,  unsustained  by  the  other  Gospels. 
204 


Supernatural 

away  sins;  if  they  are  done  before  the  grace  of 
Christ  and  his  inspiration  is  attained  they  are  not 
pleasant  to  God,  as  they  spring  not  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and  as  they  are  not  done  as  God  commanded 
we  doubt  not  but  they  have  the  nature  of  sin"  (So 
much  for  unbelievers'  good  works.)  "  No  man  can 
be  saved  by  following  the  laws  of  nature  or  of  an 
adverse  sect;  there  is  no  salvation  but  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ."  (Bad  for  those  who  never  heard 
of  him.) 

The  churches  of  Jerusalem,  Alexandria,  Antioch, 
and  Rome  are  criticized  in  their  living  ceremonies, 
and  their  matters  of  faith  —  transubstantiation  and 
purgatory  of  the  Romanists  are  condemned  as 
errors. 

In  this  summary  of  the  English  Church  we  note 
quite  as  much  mystery  about  the  Godhead  as  in  the 
Roman;  a  striving  to  elevate  the  Son  to  a  position 
coeval  with  the  Father;  and  developing  contradic- 
tions of  the  most  glaring  character,  that  defy  com- 
mon sense  and  reason.  One  person  of  the  God- 
head offers  himself  as  a  sacrifice  to  reconcile  an- 
other person  of  the  Godhead,  and  placate  his  wrath 
against  mankind,  clearly  establishing  the  fact  that 
they  were  not  of  one  mind.  (The  Father's  motive 
for  vengeance  seems  to  have  been  imitated  by  Saw- 
205 


of 


ney,  who  "  beat  Neddy  the  donkey  because  Neddy's 
father  kicked  I.")  As  the  English  Church  repudiates 
purgatory,  or  limbo,  it  had  to  send  Christ  to  the 
real  hell,  and  on  his  resurrection  he  took  to  heaven 
with  him  the  flesh  and  bones  in  which  he  was  clad 
on  earth,  thus  developing  certain  facts  that  seem  to 
be  repudiated  in  other  parts  of  the  creed,  wherein 
God  is  declared  to  be  "  without  form  or  parts," 
which  would  seem  to  our  degenerate  senses  to  indi- 
cate Christ's  retention  of  properties  quite  inapposite 
in  heaven;  such  an  act  of  supererogation  must  have 
seemed  cumbersome  among  pure  spirits,  and  to 
have  so  individualized  him  as  to  apparently  jeop- 
ardize the  unity  of  the  Godhead.  This  episode, 
however,  gives  a  foundation  for  the  impossible 
dogma  of  the  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of  men  at 
the  judgment  day,  and  was  useful  in  forming  the 
creed. 

When  Luther  broke  from  the  Roman  Church  in 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  Henry 
VIII.  repudiated  it  in  England  about  the  same 
time,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  retained  by 
them  with  all  its  contradictions,  reminding  one  of 
the  dictum  of  Tertullian,  A.  D.  200)  :  "  I  maintain 
that  the  '  Son  of  God  '  was  born  ;  why  am  not  I 
ashamed  of  maintaining  such  a  thing  ?  Why  !  but 
206 


ttotutptions 


because  it  is  in  itself  a  shameful  thing.  I  maintain 
that  the  Son  of  God  died  ;  well,  that  is  wholly  cred- 
ible, because  it  is  monstrously  absurd.  I  maintain 
that  after  having  been  buried  he  rose  again;  and 
that  I  take  to  be  true  because  it  is  manifestly  im- 
possible." (Taylor's  Sintagma,  p.  106.) 

All  the  Christian  sects  believing  in  the  dogma  of 
the  Trinity  adhere  to  the  same  anomalous  impossi- 
bility. There  are  other  sects  who,  perceiving  that 
the  impossible  metaphysical  dogma  is  contrary  to 
human  reason,  have  substituted  a  more  plausible 
and  rational  interpretation,  retaining  the  funda- 
mental belief  in  Christ  the  "  Son  of  Man  "  as 
Teacher,  Redeemer,  and  Saviour.  It  was  remarked 
by  Blanco  White  that  few  people  would  be  attracted 
to  the  Christian  faith  by  the  history,  or  life  of  Christ 
and  his  doings. 

It  is  the  nebulous  spiritualism,  that  can  be  ex- 
panded and  contracted  to  suit  the  time  and  occa- 
sion, the  hopes  and  fears  of  reward  and  punish- 
ment in  the  cloudy  future  of  eternity,  utterly  be- 
yond knowledge,  proof,  or  refutation,  that  looms 
up  dark  and  portentous  or  bright  with  sunburst 
illumination,  luring  men  on  with  strange  imagin- 
ings, without  apprehending  their  illusive  and 
evanescent  character.  The  unimpeachable  axiom 
207 


of 


that  no  being  with  human  attributes  ever  received 
a  revelation  from  a  supernatural  intelligence,  or 
ever  did,  or  can,  originate,  perform  or  cause  any 
superhuman  act  beyond  the  normal  powers  of 
men  in  their  highest  cultivation,  is  unassailable 
by  any  admissible  proof  from  man's  experience 
since  the  era  of  his  scientific  investigation. 


208 


Supernatural 


CHAPTER  X. 

CHRISTIANITY    COMPARED 

FROM  the  foregoing  outline  of  the  development 
of  human  thought  before  the  Christian  era,  and 
the  creeds  and  dogmas  evolved  from  its  teachings, 
many  of  the  rich  details  of  philosophic  acquire- 
ment and  the  high  moral  aims  of  man  in  his  ad- 
vancement toward  correct  knowledge  have  been 
necessarily  omitted  in  the  compass  prescribed  in 
this  exposition.  This  is  less  to  be  regretted  as 
each  stage  of  ancient  culture  and  thought  has  been 
elaborated  by  more  learned  and  able  chroniclers. 
My  object  has  been  to  show  that  the  Christian 
dogma  has  no  greater  claim  to  a  divine  origin  than 
its  predecessors.  We  may  therefore  venture  to 
investigate  its  assumption  of  greater  morality  and 
higher  spiritualism. 

To  any  one  who  is  cognizant  of  the  acts  of  im- 
molation and  self-abnegation  of  the  Hindus  and 
other  Eastern  sects,  in  the  development  of  their 
209 


of 


faiths,  and  before  which  the  Christian  religion 
is  dwarfed,  in  immolation  as  a  proof  of  divine  ori- 
gin, the  changes  wrought  in  the  nations  embrac- 
ing Confucian  teaching  and  Buddhist  proselyting 
are  more  marked,  successful,  and  of  longer  dura- 
tion than  anything  effected  by  Christianity.  They 
embrace  greater  numbers,  with  a  stricter  observ- 
ance of  their  doctrines.  This  also  applies  to  Mo- 
hammedanism. The  Moslem  is  much  more  strict 
in  the  daily  observance  of  the  requirements  of 
his  faith,  which  has  extended  to  more  people, 
and  in  a  shorter  time  than  Christianity  can  claim. 

If  a  comparison  of  piety  and  spiritualism  is  made 
we  find  the  followers  of  Confucius  displaying  a 
profound  respect  for  parents  and  seniors,  such  as 
we  look  for  in  vain  among  Christians,  and  a  rev- 
erence for  ancestors  that  Christian  missionaries 
construe  into  worship;  displaying  a  profoundly 
filial  veneration  that  forms  a  part  of  their  relig- 
ion. The  nation  embracing  these  religious  faiths 
is  the  oldest  extant  in  the  world,  and  it  contains 
the  greatest  number  of  homogeneous  people  under 
a  single  government.  Through  its  influence  this 
densely  populated  nation  maintained  order,  and 
sustained  a  civilization  and  love  of  letters,  until 
the  Christian  invasion  that  disturbed  its  peace  and 

210 


crotutjitious 

culture,  to  which  the  Western  world  was  a  stranger 
up  to  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  nations  of  Europe  opposed  each  other  with 
rival  creeds,  the  outcome  of  antagonistic  Chris- 
tian dogmas,  and  in  the  attrition  of  war  they  be- 
came stalwart  and  individually  bellicose.  An- 
tagonism begot  a  diversity  of  ideas,  and  men  began 
to  inquire  into  the  secrets  of  nature,  forbidden 
by  their  religion;  while  science  commenced,  feebly 
at  first,  to  attain  its  rights,  which  the  Church  la- 
bored to  suppress.  At  that  time  European  civil- 
ization was  in  no  way  advanced  beyond  the  Ori- 
ent, then  slumbering  in  peaceful  seclusion,  oblivi- 
ous to  the  turmoils  of  the  outside  barbarians,  as 
it  designated  the  Europeans;  and  we  must  confess 
not  without  reason. 

The  battles  between  Science  and  the  Christian 
Churches  —  graphically  told  by  the  Hon.  A.  D. 
White  —  developed  thought  with  unprecedented 
rapidity;  the  dawn  of  the  rights  of  mankind  glim- 
mered with  faint  light  above  the  horizon,  that  the 
clouds  of  superstition  strove  to  blot  out;  but  the 
light  of  scientific  truth  pierced  through  them, 
and  although  they  are  not  yet  wholly  dispersed, 
they  have  failed  to  obliterate  its  pure  effulgence. 

From  the  great  influence  of  this  awakening  the 

211 


(Dvtfltn  of 

arts  and  commerce  began  to  flourish;  the  rights 
of  man  began  to  be  recognized;  and  the  Euro- 
pean world  advanced  toward  a  higher  civilization 
—  not  yet  wholly  attained  owing  to  the  still  potent 
retardation  of  religious  superstition.  Free  thought 
and  equity  having  been  advanced  by  the  advent 
of  scientific  culture,  and  a  more  correct  knowledge 
of  the  universe,  in  which  we  live  and  form  a  part; 
a  better  understanding  of  the  laws  that  govern  it 
has  also  been  partly  attained,  on  which  a  higher 
erudition  has  been  founded. 

Theologians  are  contending  for  the  Christian 
dogma  as  the  originator  of  modern  civilization, 
while  history  shows  it  to  have  been  its  bitterest 
enemy,  and  most  violent  opponent.  Now,  when 
the  truths  of  science  are  established,  they  cap  the 
climax  of  stupendous  assumption  by  claiming 
that  science  and  Christian  dogma  are  in  accord, 
science  being  construed  in  a  way  to  adapt  it  to 
the  modern  interpretations  of  Christianity  made 
to  accord  with  proved  facts,  to  establish  their  har- 
mony. Now  that  science  with  well-founded  knowl- 
edge and  freedom  of  thought  has  emancipated 
men  from  the  thraldom  and  shackles  of  the  mid- 
dle ages,  and  advanced  the  European  nations 
beyond  the  Eastern,  the  Christians  are  empow- 

212 


Supernatural  eronccimous 

ered  by  the  knowledge  thus  attained  to  dictate 
and  control  their  intercourse  with  them.  This 
has  unfortunately  given  to  Christian  missionaries 
an  opportunity  to  impertinently  obtrude  themselves 
into  a  civilization  they  are  too  ignorant  to  under- 
stand, with  assumptions  as  offensive  as  they  are 
unwarranted. 

The  result  is,  as  it  always  has  been  since  his- 
toric time,  religious  dogma  brings  bloodshed  and 
war,  in  which  the  European,  with  more  belli- 
cose training,  is  likely  to  come  off  the  victor; 
while  the  devout  missionary,  propagating  conten- 
tion, gives  thanks  to  his  God  for  his  kindly 
protecting  arm  that  shields  him  against  the 
infidel. 

The  missionaries  proclaim  themselves  followers 
of  the  "  Prince  of  Peace,"  and  that  the  barbarous 
acts  of  the  middle  ages,  and  the  dark  deeds  of  the 
Christian  Church,  were  not  the  fruits  of  Christ's 
teaching;  but  Christ  told  his  disciples  plainly  that 
he  came  not  to  bring  peace  but  a  sword;  and  to 
set  relatives  against  each  other,  sons  against  fath- 
ers, daughters  against  mothers,  and  a  man's  ene- 
mies should  be  those  of  his  own  household,  —  a 
doctrine  very  different  from  that  of  Confu- 
cius or  Buddha.  This  may  explain  the  differ- 
213 


of 


ence    between    the    pugnacious   qualities  of   their 
followers.1 

So  long  as  men  believe  that  miracles  and  super- 
natural occurrences  ever  existed,  they  will  be  de- 
barred from  asserting  that  they  do  not  now  occur. 
It  is  preposterous  to  assume  that  such  things  were 
possible  in  a  more  primitive  age  of  the  world, 
and  that  they  are  not  now  achievable,  when  men 
are  so  much  better  qualified  to  judge  of  and  com- 
prehend their  significance.  A  miracle  or  abnormal 
physical  result,  accomplished  by  any  other  than 
natural  means,  does  not  agree  with  our  present 
knowledge  acquired  by  scientific  investigation. 
Is  the  proof  of  those  wonders  described  in  ancient 
writ  commensurate  with  their  exceptional  char- 
acter? The  innumerable  delusions  into  which 
many  good,  earnest,  wise,  and  learned  men  versed 
in  the  culture  attainable  in  the  past  centuries  fall, 
and  the  credulity  of  the  unlearned  population 
who  believe  in  visions,  magic,  and  witchcraft, 

1  Jesus  said  (Matt,  x,  34  et  seq.)  :  "  Think  not  that  I  am 
come  to  send  peace  on  earth  ;  I  came  not  to  send  peace  but  a 
sword,"  evidently  meaning  that  in  claiming  to  be  the  Messiah  of 
the  Jews  and  striving  to  make  himself  king,  in  a  "  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,"  to  be  inaugurated  in  Judea,  he  would  stir  up  war  and 
contention,  the  division  of  families  and  destruction  of  natural  ties 
in  religious  and  political  dissension  which  would  be  very  bitter. 
214 


Supernatural  <£ancc|)tiou$ 

with  the  erroneous  interpretations  of  natural  phe- 
nomena derived  from  former  ages,  shown  to  be 
fallacious  before  the  light  of  modern  science,  clearly 
prove  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  on  them. 
We  trace  the  source  of  modern  superstitions  in  the 
current  belief  in  ancient  miracles,  and  supernat- 
ural demonstrations  rife  in  Biblical  lore,  that  are 
still  retained  in  present  theologies;  thus  furnish- 
ing a  basis  for  all  the  wild  vagaries  in  modern  in- 
terpretations of  mental  phenomena,  of  which  we 
yet  have  imperfect  knowledge. 

There  is  no  more  proof  of  the  verity  of  the  Chris- 
tian Scriptures  than  there  is  for  the  recorded  myths 
of  earlier  religious  legends.  The  Gospels  were 
probably  composed  from  the  oral  traditions  of 
credulous  men,  written  many  years  after  their 
assumed  occurrence;  they  rest  upon  their  own 
averment  alone,  substantiated  by  no  contem- 
porary authority.  They  have  been  established  in 
human  belief  a  much  shorter  time  than  most  of  the 
Eastern  religions ;  and  fewer  people  are  now  under 
their  influence,  after  earnest  proselyting  and  strin- 
gent enforcement,  for  nearly  two  thousand  years, 
under  the  assumption  of  divine  authority. 

These  Scriptures  are  replete  with  crude  mysti- 
cisms and  errant  statements  of  impossibilities 

215 


of 


(as  science  can  now  demonstrate),  cataclysms  in 
nature  displayed  for  ephemeral  purposes,  or  for 
the  simple  exaltation  of  their  God,  who  is  por- 
trayed as  a  vacillating  being,  dissuaded  from  his 
purpose  by  the  calmer  wisdom  of  man,  and  vio- 
lating all  we  know  of  immutable  law. 

A  most  remarkable  naivete  is  shown  in  the  New 
Testament  by  the  frequent  declaration  that  sev- 
eral acts  were  performed  for  the  special  purpose 
that  the  prophesies  in  the  Old  Testament  might 
be  fulfilled  !  On  turning  to  the  prophecies  referred 
to  it  would  often  take  an  interpreter  more  profound 
than  a  priestess  of  Delphian  oracle  to  decipher 
their  connection  with  the  subsequent  events  as- 
sumed to  be  their  fulfilment;  notwithstanding  the 
pains  taken  to  fulfil  them  by  purposely  enacting 
what  they  were  construed  to  mean,  ages  after  they 
were  assumed  to  have  been  uttered. 

However  vivid  its  fond  imaginings  of  heaven 
or  terrifying  its  pictures  of  hell  may  be,  they  are 
the  mere  phantoms  of  primitive  conceit.  The 
familiar  appellation  of  father  so  exultantly  claimed 
by  Christians  is  a  natural  cognomen  used  in  all 
religions  to  indicate  the  near  relationship  to  man 
of  the  power,  or  cause,  that  originated  the  uni- 
verse; of  which  in  imaginative  phrase  we  are  the 
216 


Supernatural  (Conceptions 

children.  This  cause,  however,  as  God,  Jehovah, 
Jove,  or  Lord,  or  by  whatever  other  name  desig- 
nated, is  entirely  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  human 
brain,  or  any  human  vocabulary,  to  define,  — 

"  Extending  far  up  above  our  realms  of  thought 
And  deep  below  our  micrographic  art,"  — 

displaying  to  us  a  transcendent  impersonality  that 
dwarfs  all  the  gods  of  feeble  human  invention,  with 
their  heavens,  demigods,  angels,  and  demons,  into 
insignificant  phantasms. 

The  elevating  contemplation  of  all  the  wonders 
that  we  know  and  are  now  striving  to  intelligently 
comprehend,  with  the  consciousness  that  we  pos- 
sess mental  power  in  excess  of  all  other  created 
beings  around  us,  should  be  incentive  enough  to 
avail  ourselves  of  all  the  intellect  we  possess  in 
forwarding  the  world's  knowledge,  for  the  advance- 
ment, amelioration,  and  happiness  of  ourselves 
and  our  fellow  men.  But  few  persons  are  so  stolid 
that  they  will  not  respond  to  a  new  discovery  that 
benefits  them  physically  and  mentally.  Every 
such  discovery  is  an  incentive  to  new  exertions, 
instead  of  waiting  on  "  divine  Providence."  No 
fable  of  the  ancients  is  more  pregnant  with  sound 
philosophy  than  that  of  Hercules  and  the  Wag- 
oner — "  put  your  own  shoulder  to  the  wheel " 
217 


of 


instead  of  calling  upon  God,  who  has  given  you 
all  the  aid  he  ever  will,  in  the  intellect  with  which 
you  are  endowed.  Be  grateful  if  you  will  for  your 
present  status;  but  to  expect  special  aid  by  pray- 
ing for  it  is  a  waste  of  time  in  idolatry. 

Good  and  evil  come  by  the  immutable  laws  of 
cause  and  effect,  which  may  be  directed  and  con- 
trolled in  some  particulars  by  man's  own  energies 
in  comprehending  them;  but  never  by  inducing 
their  originator  to  modify  or  subvert  them. 

In  the  psychological  study  of  human  experience 
and  traditions  by  the  light  of  modern  scientific 
methods,  the  wonders  of  ancient  legends  of  the 
supernatural  and  miraculous  "  divine  revela- 
tions "  are  easily  accounted  for.  We  need  only 
to  trace  the  course  in  modern  times  of  the  fading 
out  of  a  belief  in  ghosts,  hobgoblins,  fairies,  — 
signs  and  wonders  in  which  our  forefathers  placed 
implicit  reliance,  now  generally  decided  to  be  mere 
fancies  of  the  brain  retained  only  by  the  credu- 
lous ignorant,  which  a  better  knowledge  has  shown 
the  impossibility  of. 

While  in  the  present  age  a  belief  in  the  supernat- 

ural  is   weakening,   being   entirely   repudiated   by 

learned  scientists,  yet  it  still  maintains  a  controlling 

influence  and  authority  in  what  are  called  Chris- 

218 


tian  nations,  so  potent  as  to  retard  the  free  avowal 
of  adverse  views  by  a  large  number  of  those  who 
deny  the  truth  of  the  dogmas  on  which  so  much 
time,  money,  and  legislation  are  expended,  which 
often  begets  a  passive  assent  from  those  who  — 
whatever  the  reason  may  be  —  prefer  to  avoid  a 
collision  with  the  organized  powers  and  vested 
legal  organizations  hi  control  of  political  legisla- 
tion. 

It  has  been  remarked  by  a  learned  professor  of 
psychology  that  "  everywhere  there  is  a  yearning 
for  the  mysterious,  which  seems  at  different  epochs 
to  flare  up  and  spread  into  true  epidemics,  utterly 
consuming  all  the  foundations  of  logic  and  com- 
mon sense  in  the  white  heat  of  emotional  fervor 
with  which  they  advance.  It  seems  not  to  matter 
how  trivial,  how  absurd,  how  vulgar,  how  igno- 
rant, or  how  improbable  the  manifestations  may 
be,  the  passion  for  belief  in  their  mysterious  origin 
sets  all  reason  aside."  Such  a  state  of  mental 
hallucination  is  only  rendered  possible  by  the 
teachings  and  belief  in  a  spirit  world  that  is  invisi- 
ble to  mortal  eyes,  in  conjunction  with  the  tangi- 
ble in  this  world,  as  inculcated  by  present  theo- 
logical dogmas,  of  which  there  is  no  proof  except 
that  which  is  derived  from  legendary  myths,  and 
219 


of 


the  mind's  eye  of  fanaticism,  that  are  not  sub- 
ject to  logical  reasoning  with  those  who  believe 
in  the  existence  of  a  sphere  of  heavenly  spirits. 

In  ancient  times  there  was  —  and  unfortu- 
nately there  now  is  —  a  belief  that  God  is  placated 
by  prayer,  and  modifies  or  changes  the  course  of 
nature  by  the  supplications  of  his  worshippers. 
We  are  still  painfully  astounded  by  the  spectacle 
of  a  nation  offering  up  prayers  for  rain  in  time  of 
drought,  for  relief  from  suffering  in  time  of  griev- 
ous pestilence  and  famines  —  and  the  antagoni- 
zing prayers  on  both  sides  of  belligerent  nations. 
We  would  fain  counsel  the  supplicants  like  Her- 
cules in  the  fable,  "  Put  your  own  shoulder  to  the 
work,"  instead  of  praying  for  supernatural  aid 
that  will  not  by  praying  be  given  you.  If  man 
cannot  counteract  or  ameliorate  the  wants  and 
deficiencies  occasioned  by  nature's  course,  he 
must  suffer  the  consequences,  for  he  will  never 
be  aided  by  prayer  to  cause  a  change  in  the  un- 
deviating  laws  that  govern  the  universe.  If  in- 
stead of  wasting  time  in  vain  supplications  men 
would  study  the  laws  that  govern  their  being,  and 
learn  the  cause  of  adverse  phenomena,  which  can 
often  be  counteracted  by  such  knowledge,  disas- 
ter would  be  avoided;  while  by  passive  suppli- 
220 


Supernatural  (Couccjmcws 

cation    they    may    ignorantly    aggravate    the    evil 
they  seek  to  avert. 

Scientific  acquirement  will  better  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  amelioration  in  diminishing  the  wants 
of  humanity  than  a  lifetime  of  prayer,  in  min- 
istering to  the  requirements  of  man's  fellow  beings, 
and  in  aiding  the  advancement  of  the  world  we 
live  in,  which  is  the  only  true  devotion. 

If  Christianity  was  simply  a  plenary  code  of 
morals,  giving  instruction  in  the  duties  of  man 
to  his  fellow  man,  indicating  how  to  lead  a  pure 
and  upright  life,  —  of  which  its  theology  formed 
no  part,  —  no  antagonism  would  occur ;  but  to 
require  a  belief  in  the  divinity  of  its  strange  origin 
derived  from  a  would-be  "  King  of  the  Jews," 
subsequently  transformed  by  tradition  from  the 
assumed  role  of  the  Jewish  Messiah  into  a  Re- 
deemer and  universal  Saviour  of  men,  induces 
friction;  unfortunately  the  dogma  goes  much 
further,  and  introduces  a  vengeful  element,  chain- 
ing men  down  by  their  fears  of  perdition  for  un- 
belief, to  the  Juggernaut  car  of  its  diabolic  tradi- 
tions, with  terrifying  pictures  of  fiendish  judg- 
ments, that  have  served  to  make  men  the  cruel 
persecutors  of  their  fellow  men  down  to  a  recent 
day. 

221 


of 


The  metaphysics  arid  mysticism  of  St.  John's 
Gospel,  so  unlike  the  other  biographers  of  Christ, 
and  that  atrocious  book  called  "  Revelation," 
attributed  to  the  same  author,  have  been  the  source 
from  which  fanatics  and  sensational  preachers 
draw  the  material  for  their  fiendish  descriptions 
and  pictures,  intended  to  agonize  faith-ridden 
men  and  God-fearing  women;  while  it  only  ex- 
cited the  derision  of  the  thoughtless  and  the  dis- 
gust of  sensible  thinkers.  It  has  produced  more 
doubt,  trepidation,  death-bed  suffering,  crazing, 
and  suicide  than  could  be  compensated  for  by 
all  the  joy  and  comfort  it  promises  the  so-called 
elect.  The  Revelation  of  St.  John,  Milton's  "  Par- 
adise Lost,"  and  the  "  Inferno  "  of  Dante  have 
been  the  cause  of  great  wretchedness  and  suffer- 
ing, by  misleading  unbalanced  and  susceptible 
people  into  believing  the  descriptions  from  the 
imaginative  and  poetic  fancies  of  the  surcharged 
minds  of  the  authors  to  be  real  divine  revelations. 


222 


<£otutptf ons 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  Revelation  of  St.  John,  as  it  is  entitled, 
is  probably  the  dream  of  a  fanatical  adherent  of 
Paul,  if  he  himself  was  not  its  author.  It  was 
evidently  written  by  the  person  who  wrote  the 
Gospel  attributed  to  the  same  origin,  which  de- 
picts in  mystical  language  Christ  under  the  cog- 
nomen of  "  The  Word,"  which  description  of 
Jesus  has  no  warrant  for  it,  and  is  at  variance  with 
the  other  Gospels.  Paul  attempted  to  elevate  Jesus 
into  the  Godhead,  and  made  him  a  universal  Re- 
deemer for  all  men,  instead  of  a  Messiah  of  the 
Jews,  as  he  declared  himself  to  be;  and  his  dis- 
ciples who  were  with  him  universally  believed  he 
was. 

Paul,  who  never  saw  Jesus,  in  attempting  to  gain 
followers  from  the  outside  world,  perceived  the 
necessity  of  enlisting  recruits  from  the  other  na- 
tions, even  though  they  were  uncircumcised,  which 
223 


of 


was  at  variance  with  St.  Peter's  doctrine,  and  cre- 
ated a  breach  in  the  Church.  But  the  absolute 
necessity  of  bringing  into  the  fold  Gentiles,  if  the 
religion  was  to  survive  (for  the  Jewish  nation  would 
not  receive  it),  overcame  all  objections;  so  Paul 
succeeded  hi  introducing  his  newly  constructed 
Christian  faith,  that  has  dominated  all  Christen- 
dom to  the  present  day. 

The  Revelation  is  addressed  to  the  seven 
churches  in  Asia  and  intended  to  strengthen  their 
faith,  with  the  author's  purpose  to  exalt  himself 
in  their  estimation.  There  is  a  subtlety  in  its  adap- 
tation to  the  faith  and  prejudices  of  the  churches 
which  he  was  addressing;  interposing  therewith 
certain  messages  of  peace  direct  from  Christ,  and 
seven  spirits  (just  their  number)  before  the  throne. 
He  relates  what  he  saw  in  the  spirit  —  notably 
in  a  dream  —  which  Alpha  and  Omega  ordered 
him  to  write  in  a  book  and  send  them.  He  then 
goes  on  to  describe  what  he  was  charged  to  write  ; 
followed  by  a  description  of  heaven  as  he  conceived 
it,  in  which  there  was  a  throne,  with  One  sitting 
on  it.  To  enhance  the  weird  mystery,  the  author 
avoids  naming  personages  frankly,  but  speaks 
of  Alpha  and  Omega,  meaning  Christ,  and  One, 
meaning  God  the  Father,  or  rather  trying  to  convey 
224 


Conceptions 


something  more  sublime  than  anything  words  can 
express,  by  uttering  the  meagre  cognomen  of  One, 
thus  attempting,  by  undefined  phrasing,  to  en- 
hance the  sublimity  of  the  narrative. 

We  have  elsewhere  observed  that  there  is  an  un- 
varying and  absolute  truth,  proving  with  certainty 
the  rule;  that  no  religion  or  dogma  is  entitled  to 
credence  or  belief,  of  divine  origin  or  authority, 
which  in  any  particular  antagonizes  or  contradicts 
the  ascertained  laws  of  nature  —  the  cosmos  as  now 
verified.  With  this  unerring  guide  we  will  investigate 
this  last  book  of  the  Christian  Bible,  which  is  ac- 
cepted by  most  Christian  believers,  and  declared  to 
be  a  divine  revelation  from  God,  that  the  author 
was  commanded  to  write. 

It  is  needless  to  discuss  the  authorship,  and  its 
date  is  unimportant.  While  it  has  sometimes  been 
repudiated,  it  still  holds  a  place  in  the  canonical 
Scriptures  of  the  present  day  in  the  Christian 
churches.  It  is  used,  as  we  have  said,  by  ignorant 
sensational  preachers,  to  terrify  their  credulous  au- 
ditors ;  and  has  been  the  source  of  most  of  the  fanat- 
ical doctrines  that  have  destroyed  the  happiness  and 
useful  life  of  thousands  of  the  human  race,  for 
which  reason  alone  we  here  give  it  extended  notice. 
It  is  the  very  key-note  of  superstition,  emanating 
225 


JHjc  (Dvttjtu  of 

from  a  morbid  imagination,  dealing  with  the  most 
crude  and  bestial  figures;  with  no  high  or  noble 
aspiration.  It  does  not  attain  the  poetical  sublim- 
ity or  grandeur  of  the  Eastern  tales  of  genii  and 
afrites,  of  the  sumptuousness  of  which  the  author  of 
"  Revelation  "  had  no  conception.  Its  dreariness, 
paucity  of  action,  and  motive  remind  us  of  the  di- 
lemma of  an  intelligent  lady,  who  said  that  when 
a  child  she  believed  she  must  be  irredeemably 
wicked,  as  she  was  sure  if  she  went  to  heaven  she 
would  tire,  and  be  surfeited  with  the  hallelujahs  and 
the  eternal  playing  on  harps,  which  seemed  to  her 
to  involve  no  intellectuality  in  it. 

The  writer  of  this  so-called  "  Revelation  "  shows 
considerable  secular  wisdom  in  his  messages  to  the 
churches  and  the  Jews,  in  his  denunciations  of 
Babylon,  where  they  were  taken  in  captivity ;  a  griev- 
ance that  occupied  so  large  a  share  of  the  time  of 
the  enthroned  One,  and  his  host  of  satellites,  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  crucial 
test  of  the  utter  groundlessness  of  this  rhapsody  of 
a  bigoted  author  is  the  indisputable  fact  that  he 
pictures  heaven  as  a  fixed  place,  above  the  stable 
earth,  accessible  by  ascent  to  it,  and,  plagiarizing 
from  Christ,  that  the  stars  —  those  little  sparks  of 
light  —  would  fall  to  the  earth;  a  mere  incident 
226 


eonrtptfons 

in  the  grand  pyrotechnics  displaying  Almighty 
power.  The  writer's  utter  ignorance  of  the  uni- 
verse as  it  is,  and  the  radically  false  description  of 
it,  would  render  the  fiction  beneath  critical  notice, 
or  the  penning  a  line  on  so  stupid  a  fable,  but  for 
the  strange  hold  it  still  has  at  the  present  day  on  the 
religious  belief  of  intelligent  people.  It  is  not  ex- 
aggeration to  say  that  this  erratic  extravaganza  has 
done  more  harm,  led  to  more  persecution  —  un- 
settled more  ill-balanced  minds,  and  been  the 
source  of  more  idiosyncrasies  in  religious  tenets  — 
than  any  other  writing  extant;  not  from  its  literary 
merits,  but  from  its  reception  as  a  revelation  from 
God,  that  forbids  human  criticism. 

In  the  attempt  of  the  author  of  "  Revelation  "  to 
draw  an  imposing  picture  of  the  grandeur  and  sub- 
limity of  heaven  he  totally  fails,  by  using  conven- 
tional human  settings,  with  unartistic  grouping  of 
men  mingled  with  low,  distorted  images  of  beasts 
with  horns,  having  multitudinous  eyes,  diabolical 
imaginings  of  natural  forms  into  more  heathenish 
shapes  than  Eastern  idols;  while  the  only  occupa- 
tion he  can  find  for  his  saints,  angels,  or  beasts,  con- 
sists in  genuflections  with  hallelujahs  to  the  One  on 
the  throne,  accompanied  with  minstrelsy  of  harps; 
without  an  ennobling  thought,  or  moral  suggestion; 
227 


of 


simply  a  fulsome  worship,  accompanied  by  pyro- 
technic thunders  and  lightnings.  The  whole  phan- 
tasmagoria seemed  to  be  engaged  in  vengeance  and 
destruction.  Among  other  terrors,  a  being  on  a  red 
horse  is  sent  to  destroy  the  peace  of  the  world  (ami- 
able mission  !),  with  many  other  heavenly  acts,  in- 
terspersed with  worship  and  adulation.  Such  is 
"  John's  "  picture  of  heaven,  unrelieved  by  a  single 
elevating  action,  with  no  word  of  knowledge  or 
peace. 

It  is  amazing  that  place  should  be  given  to  this 
crude,  puerile  excogitation  of  an  unbalanced  intel- 
lect, in  the  religious  curriculum  of  an  enlightened 
age.  It  is  stranger  yet  that  men  of  brains  will 
waste  their  valuable  energies  in  labored  disquisi- 
tions on  the  mystic  significance  of  those  cabalistic 
utterances,  as  if  they  had  any  real  value  in  religious 
culture  or  the  advancement  of  knowledge. 

The  evidence  is  multifarious  that  the  whole 
course  of  advancement  of  the  human  race  has  been 
obscured  and  retarded  by  continuous  aberrations 
and  mysticisms,  engendered  by  a  strife  to  placate 
the  divine  origin  of  our  being.  From  age  to  age  the 
fertile  brain  of  man  was  teeming  with  myths  and 
legends,  concocted  from  incidents,  often  misinter- 
preted, in  the  phenomena  of  nature  ;  which,  by  their 
228 


Supernatural  ttonrrptfons 

acceptance  as  truths,  misled  men  into  the  moral  and 
religious  vagaries  that  have  afflicted  the  human  race, 
and  produced  the  ever-erring  and  inefficient  religions 
of  the  world. 

This  "  Revelation  "  is  notoriously  the  ne  plus  ultra 
not  only  of  mysticism,  but  of  absurdity,  with  no 
redeeming  characteristics  of  morals  or  philosophy, 
displaying  a  primitive  ignorance  that  would  dis- 
grace a  tyro  of  the  present  day.  What  a  strange 
thing  is  a  normal  human  mind  that  can  be  warped 
by  education  into  a  belief  in  such  unmitigated  non- 
sense, in  which  the  writer  displays  his  desire  to  rule 
the  ignorant  and  fanatical  churches  he  addresses,  by 
a  claim  of  authority  from  God. 


229 


JSTije  <Dvt0t!t  of 


CHAPTER   XII. 

MIRACLES 

WHILE  no  attempt  is  made  in  this  essay  to  detail 
with  minuteness,  historically  or  otherwise,  the  prog- 
ress of  development  of  the  innumerable  religions 
that  enacted  an  important  part  in  the  progress  of 
civilization,  or  their  aid  in  the  advancement  of  the 
races  to  their  present  standing,  they  were  a  potent 
factor  in  the  aggregation  of  men  into  exclusive  com- 
munities, and  in  estranging  them  from  their  fellow 
men.  They  have  been  the  direct  cause  of  the  bit- 
terest feuds,  wars,  and  barbarous  persecutions  that 
have  disgraced  the  human  race,  far  more  potent 
than  any  other  incentive. 

We  can  assume,  without  fear  or  contradiction, 
that  the  delineation  of  a  perfect  God,  in  accord 
with  the  ascertained  laws  of  creation,  is  beyond  the 
mental  powers  of  man.  Hence,  as  we  have  seen, 
all  the  attempts  heretofore  made  to  portray  the 
originator  of  the  universe,  and  the  advent  of  man, 
230 


Supernatural 


have  been  signal  failures.  The  most  refined  theo- 
logical efforts  of  the  latest  Christian  civilization  are 
but  inadequate  endeavors  to  spiritualize  the  per- 
sonal and  humanized  God  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures, 
who  is  so  indissolubly  connected  with  Jesus  Christ, 
the  "  Saviour  "  of  the  Christian  sect,  that  they  must 
stand  or  fall  together. 

The  legends  of  the  Old  Testament,  embodied  in 
the  Christian  Bible,  were  written  by  men  totally  ig- 
norant of  the  cosmology  of  the  universe,  and  man's 
relation  to  it  ;  yet  the  record  is  claimed  to  be  divinely 
inspired,  and  the  legend  was  accepted  as  true  by 
Christ.  Hence  true,  loving,  earnest,  intelligent 
Christians  believe  in  its  divine  inspiration,  and 
have  striven  to  warp  the  ambiguous  story  that  ad- 
mits of  but  one  rational  interpretation  (originally 
believed  in  by  Jews  and  Christians  alike),  to  har- 
monize it  with  ascertained  facts.  Since  the  wonder- 
ful truths  of  nature  began  to  be  interpreted  by 
scientific  investigation,  the  theologians  have  either 
denied  their  truth,  or  striven  to  interpret  the  plain 
declarations  of  the  Biblical  text  into  mystical  mean- 
ings consonant  with  the  truth. 

The  God  described  in  Genesis  was  a  personality, 
and  walked  on  the  earth  like  a  man,  who  was  made 
in  his  image;  but,  say  the  theologians,  the  making 
231 


of 


"  man  in  his  image  "  meant  a  spiritual  likeness, 
not  a  physical  one.  This  is  gratuitous,  and  with- 
out warrant  ;  it  does  not  accord  with  his  walking  in 
the  garden  of  Eden.  So  again,  the  clear,  unam- 
biguous statement  of  the  creation  in  six  days,  too 
positive  and  precise  to  admit  of  question,  and  con- 
firmed in  the  "  God  written  "  commandments 
(which  now  ornament  the  walls  of  Christian 
churches),  that  indicate  day,  beyond  all  question, 
as  the  diurnal  light  and  darkness  caused  by  the 
earth's  revolution,  and  preclude  the  assumption 
that  by  day  an  indefinite  period  of  time  of  illimitable 
length  was  meant.  The  explanation  is  sophistical, 
and  is  absolutely  refuted  by  the  commandments. 
The  statement,  as  it  stands  in  Genesis,  we  know  to 
be  unqualifiedly  erroneous,  disproved  by  well- 
known  facts. 

While  the  writings  of  the  ancients  are  filled  with 
records  of  miracles  and  supernatural  manifesta- 
tions, that  are  vanishing  before  the  light  of  science, 
an  investigation  into  their  causes  would  be  inter- 
esting. There  is  no  unambiguous  proof  that  mir- 
acles were  ever  materialized;  while  the  negative 
assertion  that  they  never  happened  cannot  be  dem- 
onstrated or  disproved  by  evidence,  as  negative 
proof  is  unattainable.  The  denial  of  their  having 
232 


eronccjmaus 


occurred  is  based  upon  our  experience  of  the  nat- 
ural order  constantly  prevailing  in  modern  times, 
under  fixed  and  undeviating  rules  so  far  as  they 
have  been  ascertained,  in  which  no  digression  is 
known  to  science. 

By  the  rules  of  evidence  a  phenomenon  so  utterly 
abnormal  as  a  miracle  requires  the  most  unques- 
tionable and  positive  proof,  which  is  now  unattain- 
able in  regard  to  ancient  legends.  The  fact  is  in- 
disputable that  the  traditions  in  early  writings, 
which  have  been  preserved,  are  filled  with  anoma- 
lous incidents  :  spiritual  appearances,  gods,  demons, 
and  miracles,  to  suit  the  story  of  each  religion,  such 
as  we  know  do  not  appear  in  modern  times.  The 
appearances  recorded  were  more  or  less  frequent  in 
proportion  to  the  primitive  character  of  the  record, 
which  intensifies  the  doubt  of  their  truth. 

In  examining  the  probability  of  the  miracles 
described  in  the  New  Testament,  we  shall  be  greatly 
aided  by  carefully  investigating  the  occasions  on 
which  they  were  manifested;  their  nature  and 
appositeness  in  the  advancement  of  the  mission 
which  the  "  Redeemer  "  came  to  fulfil.  It  is  hardly 
conceivable  that  a  divine  Saviour  of  mankind  would 
display  miracles  ad  libitum  only  to  exhibit  his  power 
or  credentials  from  God.  If  we  find  any  of  the 
233 


of 


exhibitions  of  his  miraculous  power  were  appar- 
ently only  employed  for  revenge,  as  in  the  mira- 
cle of  the  fig-tree,  or  for  social  conviviality,  as  in 
the  turning  water  into  wine,  the  reason  for  doubt 
is  greatly  enhanced. 

As  we  have  before  written,  there  is  no  confirma- 
tory evidence  of  the  miraculous  details  stated  in 
the  Bible,  and  except  the  Babylonian  account  of 
the  creation,  all  prior  and  contemporary  historians 
are  silent  on  the  subject  of  the  wonders  it  treats 
of.  The  style  of  many  of  the  books,  which  attempt 
to  describe  the  beginning  of  history,  are  of  much 
later  date  than  some  records  now  extant,  and  are 
less  primitive  in  their  diction. 

In  our  exposition  of  the  absolutely  baseless 
foundation  of  the  Christian  dogma,  which  arose 
many  thousands  of  years  after  the  aggregation  of 
men  into  nations,  that  were  vastly  greater  than 
the  Jews,  with  religions,  laws,  and  a  civilization 
at  least  equal  to  theirs,  we  note  that  its  advent  oc- 
curred in  a  conquered  and  insignificant  nation, 
whence  it  could  not  be  readily  disseminated,  and 
it  was  limited  in  its  influence  for  three  centuries, 
until  patronized  by  the  Emperor  Constantine. 

Its  propagation  was  slowly  effected  by  legends 
orally  transmitted  during  the  first  centuries  after 

234 


Supernatural 


Christ's  death,  by  ignorant  fishermen  and  others 
of  their  class.  Christ's  boast  was  that  his  doc- 
trines were  not  believed  in  by  the  wise  and  pru- 
dent, but  were  revealed  to  babes,  meaning  the 
ignorant,  which  shows  the  source  from  which  the 
Gospels  were  derived.  Their  promulgation  was 
due  to  the  Emperors  Hadrian  and  Constantine, 
for  political  reasons. 

The  result  of  its  enforcement  upon  Europe  cul- 
minated in  a  dark  and  backward  age,  that  was 
only  dispelled  by  the  advent  of  science,  which  the 
conservators  of  this  religion  opposed  with  great 
acrimony. 

From  this  era  doubts  arose,  expanding  into 
agnosticism;  uncertain  at  first,  but  gradually 
consolidating  into  the  truths  of  the  present  day, 
which  do  not  interfere  with  or  question  the  free- 
dom or  right  to  a  belief  in  any  dogma  of  a  future 
state  of  reward  and  punishment,  or  the  recogni- 
tion of  friends  in  a  region  of  happiness  after  death. 
The  thought  is  poetical  and  sublime;  and  if  it  is 
a  source  of  comfort  to  the  living,  we  would  offer 
no  contention  against  the  pictures  of  Paradise  or 
heaven,  drawn  by  the  most  imaginative  minds; 
nor  an  idealization,  attempting  to  define  God's 
purposes.  Our  protest  would  only  be  directed 
235 


of 


against  the  assumption  that  they  are  plenary  rev- 
elations from  God,  instead  of  being,  as  they  are, 
the  emanation  of  man's  imagination;  embracing 
the  denunciatory  character  of  the  fiendish,  bar- 
barous, and  vengeful  punishments  inculcated,  with- 
out a  redeemable  feature,  by  ignorant  men. 

To  us,  the  indescribably  transcendent  power 
that  brought  into  existence  this  vast  creation, 
illimitable  to  human  knowledge,  elaborated  with 
a  minuteness  man  has  not  yet  reached,  with  beau- 
ties in  sight  and  sound  we  can  marvel  at  but  never 
equal;  dispensing  joy  and  happiness  within  our 
grasp  that  man's  perverted  and  ignorant  reach- 
ing after  the  impossible  prevents  him  from  attain- 
ing: this  imparts  to  us  unbounded  confidence  that 
the  future  will  develop  a  greater  good  than  our 
limited  powers  can  now  compass.  We  feel  a  cer- 
tainty that  we  can  acquire  no  present  knowledge 
of  the  details,  and  we  rest  confidently  in  the  be- 
lief that  the  future  will  be  determined  with  greater 
perfection  than  man  can  now  formulate.  This 
shows  us  that  the  proper  occupation  of  man  is 
to  study  the  open  book  of  nature  before  which  he 
is  placed,  for  his  true  relation  to  his  surroundings, 
by  which  he  may  attain  the  utmost  good  for  him- 
self and  his  fellow  beings,  aided  by  cultivating 
236 


his  truthfulness  and  benevolence,  together  with 
kindly  social  relations,  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  his  being.  Our  aim  should  be  to  make  this 
world  better,  happier,  and  more  perfect,  —  for 
it  is  our  present  home,  —  by  which  we  can  attain 
greater  happiness.  The  profoundest  rule  for  ac- 
tion in  relation  to  our  intercourse  with  others  is 
contained  in  the  maxim  of  that  sapient  philos- 
opher, Confucius,  "  Treat  your  fellow  man  as  you 
would  be  treated."  Selfishness  is  the  fundamen- 
tal cause  of  wickedness. 

The  strange  hallucination  that  the  Omnipotent 
First  Cause  could  be  gratified,  or  placated,  or  in- 
duced by  adulation  or  worship,  with  formulated 
prayers  and  genuflections,  into  indulgences,  or 
plenary  forgiveness  of  sins  committed,  while  it 
has  advantages  for  the  depraved,  cannot  accord 
with  sound  justice;  or  annul  the  fact  that  a  dere- 
liction can  only  be  condoned  by  correcting  the 
wrong,  without  calling  upon  supernatural  aid,  that 
will  never  be  given  from  any  extraneous  source,  but 
must  be  righted  from  our  own  consciousness. 

The  world  has  had  many  thousands  of  years' 
experience  in  ineffective  theological  experiment 
in  making  men  good  through  fear  of  punishment, 
diverted  by  subservient  worship  in  imploring  su- 

237 


of 


pernatural  aid  rather  than  through  a  fear  of  doing 
wrong  and  seeking  the  right.  Too  often  it  has  been 
taught  that  a  strict  adherence  to  church  formula, 
prayer,  and  pecuniary  gifts  placated  and  condoned 
unrequited  wrong.  A  scientific  demonstration  of 
right  and  wrong  banishes  all  such  fallacious  rea- 
soning. When  men  can  be  convinced  that  unself- 
ishness, truth,  and  justice,  with  full  liberty  to  act 
independently  of  the  control  of  others,  so  far  as 
it  does  not  interfere  with  their  inherent  rights,  and 
when  actions  are  made  to  comport  with  a  due 
regard  to  these  axioms,  the  greatest  happiness  will 
be  attained,  and  man's  highest  perfection  be 
achieved.  To  this  end  all  legislation  should  be 
limited,  with  no  grant  of  exclusive  or  exceptional 
privileges  to  any. 

The  question  that  most  concerns  the  advance 
of  American  liberty  and  civilization  is  the  exclu- 
sion guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  of  all  as- 
cendency by  law  of  any  religion  over  the  citizen, 
be  he  Christian,  Mohammedan,  Buddhist,  Con- 
fucian, deist,  or  agnostic.  In  the  Constitution 
all  control  over  religion  was  carefully  excluded. 
Notwithstanding  this  precaution  of  the  framers 
of  the  instrument  made  to  guard  our  liberties, 
its  intent  has  been  ignored  and  trampled  on  by 
238 


Supernatural  <£otuciitfou8 

Christian  legislators,  who  have  enacted  penal  laws 
that  curtail  the  rights  of  men  in  their  religious 
belief  and  legitimate  acts,  which  in  no  way  encroach 
upon  the  rights  of  others,  or  their  freedom  to  en- 
joy like  privileges.  This  encroachment  Christian 
sectarians  have  perpetrated,  and  they  are  still  ac- 
tively engaged  in  the  subversion  of  the  rights  of 
their  fellow  citizens  by  the  enforcement  of  Chris- 
tian Sunday  laws,  and  religious  tests,  subversive 
of  the  Constitution. 


239 


of 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

OUR  PRESENT  KNOWLEDGE 

HAVING  traced  in  the  preceding  pages  man's 
incentive  to  worship,  developed  by  his  multitudi- 
nous ideas  of  the  originator  of  the  universe  described 
in  the  various  stages  of  his  advancement,  in  which 
he  has  created  from  his  fruitful  imaginings  dei- 
ties, supernatural  phenomena,  spirit  worlds,  and 
other  anomalous  and  abnormal  things  which  mod- 
em thought  should  consign  to  oblivion,  and  that 
science  has  proved  to  be  fallacious,  yet  there  still 
lingers  in  religious  dogmas  a  primitive  adherence 
that  is  commingled  with  the  highest  codes  of  morals. 

We  have  endeavored  to  eliminate  the  fabulous 
from  the  true,  the  useful,  and  the  good,  which 
man  has  educed  from  his  unaided  mind,  reason- 
ing on  the  acts  and  deeds  of  himself  and  his  fellow 
men,  while  rejecting  the  fabulous  source  to  which 
they  were  attributed.  To  establish  the  fact  that 
man's  intellect  alone  is  the  origin  from  which 
240 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

the  highest  good  is  achieved,  we  must  carefully 
examine  the  most  advanced  civilization,  and  the 
source  from  which  it  emanated.  We  have  shown 
the  frail  foundations  on  which  superstition  is  based, 
and  the  crudities  with  which  it  is  filled.  While 
we  assume  this  earth  is  existent,  and  that  some 
power  caused  its  being,  we  have  no  conceivable 
idea  of  the  creation  or  extinction  of  matter,  the 
beginning  or  end  of  time,  or  the  beginning  and  end 
of  space;  yet  these  problems  must  be  solved  be- 
fore we  can  have  an  intelligent  knowledge  of  God, 
or  fathom  the  purpose  of  creation. 

The  dogma  that  Christ  was  an  emanation  from 
heaven  to  Judea,  as  a  Saviour  and  Redeemer  of 
mankind,  involves  so  many  enigmas  and  contra- 
dictions as  to  render  it  a  theological  maze.  To 
decipher  this,  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  normal 
condition  of  man,  as  created,  tends  to  evil ;  that  he, 
knowing  the  right,  prefers  to  do  wrong;  and  that, 
after  untold  centuries  of  wrong-doing,  multitudes 
of  nations,  cultivated  in  arts,  with  profound  laws 
governing  large  communities  age  upon  age,  appar- 
ently much  more  cultivated,  and  with  greater  ac- 
quirements than  the  Jews  ever  attained,  were 
left  to  their  own  teachings,  until  a  divine  Re- 
deemer never  before  commissioned  was  sent  to 
241 


(Drirjtn  of 

the  Jews,  not  to  teach  them  a  higher  moral  code, 
which  he  never  did,  but  to  expiate  the  sins  of  the 
world.  And  what  renders  the  enigma  more  pro- 
found, he  was  sent  to  a  conquered  people,  under 
the  rule  of  a  great  nation,  with  no  power  to  dis- 
seminate his  mission.  Why  this  long  delay  to  re- 
deem mankind  was  deemed  essential,  and  why 
it  did  not  extend,  except  to  a  few  individual  com- 
munities, for  hundreds  of  years,  must  be  left  to 
theologians  to  solve. 

When  the  Christian  religion  became  dominant 
it  was  enveloped  in  feuds  and  warfare  that  caused 
persecution  and  bloodshed;  with  the  final  ascend- 
ency of  the  Roman  Church,  the  relentless  rule  of 
which  led  to  the  retrograde  age  of  darkness,  as  it 
was  called,  entirely  at  variance  with  common  sense 
and  our  knowledge  of  right,  which  lasted  until 
the  victorious  warfare  of  science  emancipated 
thought,  and  redeemed  the  world  from  much  of 
its  barbarism.  It  is  beyond  the  power  of  man 
to  conceive  God  to  be  impersonal;  the  attempt 
to  disguise  this  fact  by  calling  him  a  spirit  is  fu- 
tile. How  does  a  spirit  differ  from  an  entity? 
The  aphorism  that  God  is  everywhere,  in  every- 
thing, as  Pythagoras  defines  him,  does  not  elimi- 
nate his  personality.  The  creeds  of  Christians 
242 


Supernatural  <£oncrj)tfan$ 

declare  Christ  to  be  a  personality  of  the  God- 
head, the  Trinity  of  personalities. 

While  it  is  natural  and  logical  for  man  to  per- 
sonify an  originator,  or  first  cause  of  the  universe, 
and  to  clothe  that  power  with  transcendent  at- 
tributes divine,  unquestionable  proof  is  neces- 
sary to  establish  a  rational  belief  that  any  verbal 
communication  was  ever  made  from  that  source. 
The  only  admissible  proof  would  be,  imparting 
information  transcending  anything  known  to,  or 
attainable  by,  the  unaided  intellect  of  man. 

In  the  teachings  attributed  to  Christ  there  is 
no  ethnologic  truth  or  maxim  announced  that  was 
not  taught  ages  before  his  advent;  while  some 
of  his  teachings,  undefined  by  modern  Biblicists, 
display  doubtful  ethics.  The  assumption  that 
Christ  came  into  the  world  as  the  Saviour  of  men, 
teaching  a  transcendent  moral  code  and  religious 
dogma;  that  he  performed  miracles,  such  as  heal- 
ing diseases,  raising  the  dead,  and  countervailing 
nature's  laws,  is  believed  by  his  catechumens. 
These  miracles,  resting  on  tradition  alone,  did  not 
convert  the  learned  that  it  is  claimed  saw  them; 
they  were  enacted  for  the  benefit  of  individuals, 
or  for  present  purposes.  In  no  instance  did  they 
teach  intellectual  advancement.  They  seemed 
243 


of 


only  to  have  been  enacted  to  impress  the  belief 
of  those  who  witnessed  them  with  the  supernatural 
power  of  him  who  was  afterward  declared  to  be 
the  sole  redeemer  and  saviour  of  men  from  future 
punishment  in  another  sphere;  a  salvation  to  be 
achieved  only  by  a  belief  that  he  died  to  redeem 
the  human  race.  It  seems  difficult  for  an  uniniti- 
ated investigator  to  understand  any  analogy  be- 
tween the  death  of  Christ,  who  was  executed  for 
assuming  to  be  the  "  King  of  the  Jews,"  and  the 
salvation  of  men;  a  dogma  that  could  be  enter- 
tained by  those  only  whose  preconceived  faith 
controlled  their  reason. 

If  credence  in  a  future  life  and  the  recognition 
of  departed  friends  is  a  source  of  comfort  to  those 
who  entertain  it,  no  demonstration  has  been  of- 
fered to  disprove  it;  therefore  it  may  be  indisput- 
ably entertained  and  without  proof  adhered  to. 
But  if  the  belief  is  founded  on  the  authority  of 
ancient  legends,  they  are  but  the  creations  of  men 
far  more  ignorant  than  ourselves,  and  without 
proof  that  they  ever  had  any  more  knowledge 
about  the  future  than  we  possess. 

If  a  belief  in  a  hereafter  diverts  men  from  a  laud- 
able endeavor  to  make  the  world  better,  more 
beautiful  and  happier,  it  is  detrimental  to  man's 
244 


eoturjittons 


highest  mission.  Our  present  service  is  due  for 
the  improvement  of  this  world,  mankind,  and 
ourselves.  If  we  perform  our  task  faithfully  here, 
we  shall  be  better  fitted  to  do  so  in  a  future  exist- 
ence, if  we  attain  it;  which  will  be  very  monot- 
onous if  worship  is  to  be  our  only  occupation,  as 
the  Revelation  of  John  pictures  it,  producing  no 
advancing  result.  The  laws  that  govern  this  uni- 
verse are  inexorable;  to  ignore  or  attempt  to 
change  them  is  reprehensible.  By  diligently  study- 
ing the  phenomena  of  uncontrolled  nature,  and 
their  causes,  we  may  direct  and  counteract  many 
of  their  detrimental  effects,  and  use  them  for  our 
good;  but  to  beseech  an  unseen  power  to  change 
or  modify  them,  with  the  supposition  that  they 
can  be  thereby  changed,  is  demoralizing  and  su- 
perstitious. 

All  that  is  taught  in  the  churches,  and  elsewhere, 
of  unselfish  acts,  moral  and  fraternal,  in  social  and 
national  brotherhood,  and  comity  in  the  family 
of  nations,  must  receive  the  responsive  approba- 
tion of  every  right-minded  man.  It  should  be 
clearly  understood,  however,  that  our  whole  duty 
is  not  accomplished  when  a  sporadic  charity  is 
bestowed  out  of  the  gains  we  have  accumulated 
from  the  hard  labor  of  the  recipients;  nor  should 

245 


of 


charity,  justice,  or  morality  be  shackled  with  re- 
ligious creeds  or  dogmas. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  benefactions  to  the 
coming  age  would  be  a  clear  exposition  of  the  just 
and  equitable  limits  of  legislators,  in  the  enactment 
of  laws  determining  and  restricting  the  volition  of 
persons  in  their  unrestrained  liberty  of  action; 
and  abolishing  the  power  to  grant  special  or  ex- 
clusive privileges  to  any  man,  or  association  of 
men,  from  which  others  may  be  excluded.  And 
when  men's  rights  are  determined,  and  clearly 
understood,  there  should  be  a  constitutional  bar 
placed  upon  legislation,  to  prevent  its  trespassing 
upon  the  rights  of  all  to  acquire  equal  privileges, 
and  guard  all  against  adverse  combinations.  I 
can  conceive  of  no  more  important  subject  for 
which  a  very  large  reward  could  be  advanta- 
geously offered,  than  the  best  essay  giving  a  clear 
exposition  of  this  theme. 


246 


(gonrrjmong 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OUR  PRESENT  STATUS 

IN  this  dissertation  we  have  described  the  source 
of  man's  belief  in  a  Creator,  and  the  cause  of  his 
speculations  in  the  embodiment  of  a  God.  We 
have  suggested  his  derivation  of  supernatural 
occurrences  from  misunderstood  phenomena,  and 
a  prolific  imagination  that  has  created  and  woven 
into  myths  and  legends  very  common  events,  as 
well  as  unusual  experiences.  In  the  earliest  rec- 
ords there  is  a  constant  tendency  to  personify 
natural  phenomena,  and  a  poetical  fancy  to  endow 
objects,  animate  and  inanimate,  with  superhuman 
attributes.  The  earliest  gods  were  derived  almost 
entirely  from  that  source. 

In  later  times  mental  endowments  were  recog- 
nized as  elements  of  divinity,  and  systems  more 
elaborate  and  transcendental  were  formulated, 
with  concomitant  gods  whose  lives  and  acts  were 
emphasized  and  adorned  with  miracles,  and  other 
247 


of 


supernatural  attributes.  In  tracing  these  ab- 
normal characteristics,  we  note  a  repetition  of 
the  acts  attributed  to  the  earlier  gods,  ascribed  to 
later  divinities,  in  characteristics  that  leave  but 
little  doubt  of  plagiarism. 

An  era  of  god-making  culminated  in  deifying 
the  Jewish  Messiah,  Jesus  of  Nazareth;  who  was 
executed,  as  related  in  the  Bible  narrative,  for 
attempting  to  make  himself  "  King  of  the  Jews." 
Later  tradition  clothed  him  with  many  of  the  his- 
torical incidents  related  of  Crishna's  and  Bud- 
dha's advents.  A  belief  in  his  divinity  has  been 
retained  in  some  of  the  most  advanced  nations, 
who  claim  for  it  all  the  brilliant  acquirements  in 
high-  toned  morals,  justice,  and  equity  attained 
by  man's  experience  from  earliest  ages,  and  the 
scientific  teaching  and  learning  of  modern  times. 

Modern  civilization  is  the  fruit  of  modern  cul- 
ture, derived  from  the  free  investigation  of  every 
question  in  the  light  of  science,  unhampered  by 
any  dictum  from  ancient  law,  but  with  a  clear 
discernment  of  every  truth  in  science  and  philos- 
ophy, having  the  crudities  of  theological  super- 
stition eliminated. 

While  the  twentieth  century  begins  with  the 
human  mind  free  to  become  emancipated  from 
248 


the  compulsory  shackles  of  theologic  rule,  it  is 
still  clogged  by  the  traditions  of  former  tyranny, 
and  the  lingering  dread  of  eternal  punishment 
with  which  it  has  so  long  been  held  in  abeyance. 

With  such  questions  as  the  ultimate  purposes 
of  creation,  or  the  modus  operandi  of  a  future  state, 
science  as  yet  has  nothing  to  do;  it  simply  leaves 
the  speculative  mind  free  to  believe  or  repudiate 
any  proposition  relative  to  the  unknowable  it  may 
choose  to  embrace.  The  only  protest  it  would 
interpose  is  against  the  assumption  that  any  dic- 
tum coming  down  from  a  more  primitive  age 
should  be  used  as  authority  for  belief,  or  a  con- 
trol over  the  acts  and  thoughts  of  men;  an  as- 
sumption that  has  been  the  cause  of  much  oppres- 
sion and  bloodshed.  It  may  be  assumed,  with- 
out fear  of  veracious  contradiction,  that  no  man 
ever  lived  who  knew  more  of  the  future  than  we 
N  do;  for  there  is  no  theology  extant,  whatever  its 
pretensions  to  divine  inspiration  may  be,  that 
displays  any  knowledge  of  the  true  history  of  the 
world's  advent;  while  on  the  contrary  all,  with- 
out exception,  are  based  on  what  we  know  to  be 
false  conceptions  of  it.  Is  it  within  the  scope  of 
common  sense  or  logical  reason  to  claim  for  an 
ignorant  age,  or  a  legendary  individual,  greater 
249 


of 


knowledge  of  mental  phenomena,  or  the  personal 
attributes  of  man  and  his  destiny  in  the  future 
order  of  events,  than  the  most  profound  learning 
of  the  present  day  can  compass?  Is  it  within  the 
legitimate  range  of  human  reason  to  assume  that 
an  omniscient  incarnation  of  deity  should  not  dis- 
play a  knowledge  of  the  true  cosmology  of  the 
universe?  Is  it  not  true  that  if  any  teaching  be 
found  in  the  utterances  of  an  assumed  deity  incon- 
sistent with  the  known  facts  of  science,  it  is  fatal 
to  all  claims  of  divine  knowledge?  All  this  the 
sayings  of  Christ  show.  To  parry  the  plain  com- 
mon sense  of  the  text  with  metaphysical  disqui- 
sitions or  paraphrase  may  display  great  skill  in 
mental  legerdemain,  but  the  necessity  for  its  man- 
ifestation, to  define  God's  direct  communication 
with  man,  throws  an  infallible  doubt  upon  the 
divinity  of  the  assumed  revelation. 

We  need  not  stay  to  discuss  the  fabulous  char- 
acter of  the  obsolete  religions  of  the  world;  they 
serve  only  to  emphasize  the  mental  activity  of 
human  thought  and  the  wonderful  power  of  man 
to  build  up  systems  of  theology  from  his  fertile 
imagination. 

The  religion  that  at  the  present  time  engrosses 
so  much  of  the  attention  and  energy  of  the  most 
250 


Supernatural  (Conceptions 

advanced  nations  claims  our  attention  at  present. 
We  believe  that  human  benevolence,  charity,  love, 
equity,  and  justice  would  have  a  much  more  per- 
manent foundation  based  on  man's  inner  con- 
sciousness of  right,  with  the  cultivation  of  a  firm 
conviction  that  a  strict  integrity  on  his  part  would 
result  in  the  greatest  amount  of  happiness  not 
only  to  the  whole  community,  but  consequently 
to  himself  individually;  and  that  the  incentive 
of  his  own  native  power  and  volition  for  right  liv- 
ing would  be  a  much  greater  inducement  than 
any  promise  of  post  mortuary  reward  or  punish- 
ment, or  the  placation  of  the  ruler  of  the  universe 
by  prayer  or  conventional  ceremonies.  Seeking 
for  exterior  aid,  instead  of  being  self-reliant,  is 
demoralizing. 

We  have  no  Utopian  aspirations  regarding  men's 
perfection,  or  their  mental  or  physical  equality; 
but  we  would  indicate  strict  equity  and  justice  to 
all.  Much  of  the  crime,  and  dereliction  from  law 
and  order,  arises  from  a  prevalent  feeling  that 
the  laws  of  society  are  inequitable;  that  the  rich 
are  reaping  undue  advantages  of  the  needy,  and 
that  the  laws  are  made  for  their  greater  protec- 
tion. The  need  for  reform  is  really  more  impor- 
tant with  the  high  and  rich  than  with  the  lower 
2S1 


of 


orders.  Crime  will  be  shorn  of  its  greatest  incen- 
tive when  the  most  prosperous  become  the  most 
equitable.  But  all  reform  must  be  attained  by  a 
consciousness  of  each  one's  power  to  do  right; 
not  because  it  will  please  or  placate  a  superior 
being,  but  because  it  will  better  subserve  the  pur- 
poses of  our  creation  and  inure  to  each  one's  hap- 
piness in  this  world,  which  would  be  the  greatest 
guarantee  for  it  hereafter. 

The  confusing  and  demoralizing  doctrine  that 
any  form  of  theology  is  necessary  to  attain  an  en- 
joyment of  a  future  state,  of  which  man's  imagi- 
nation alone  gives  him  any  idea,  is  found  by  thou- 
sands of  years  of  experience  to  be  of  no  avail  in 
aid  of  criminal  reformation.  It  will  be  found  that 
where  the  most  strict  and  tyrannical  theological 
discipline  prevails,  the  people  are  lowest  and  most 
depraved. 

If  history  teaches  any  one  thing  more  promi- 
nently than  another,  it  is  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
world  we  live  in,  and  a  realization  of  the  mental 
powers  and  functions  of  man  in  combating  adverse 
natural  phenomena,  while  availing  himself  of  the 
advantages  presented  by  a  careful  study  of  its  ca- 
pabilities, will  best  subserve  the  purpose  of  his  being, 
and  elevate  him  to  the  highest  moral  and  intel- 
252 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

lectual  standard,  without  reference  to  any  other 
aiding  than  his  own  powers,  which  are  all  that 
have  been  or  will  ever  be  bestowed  upon  him. 

Man  needs  to  waste  no  time  in  telling  how  de- 
voted he  is  to  his  Creator's  service,  who  must  know 
every  purpose  of  his  being,  if  he  is  omniscient; 
or  to  expend  inordinate  means  and  energies  in 
building  temples  or  churches  to  worship  in.  The 
best  and  only  proper  worship  is,  at  all  times  to 
do  right,  and  deal  justly  with  our  fellow  men,  — 
thus  aid  in  making  the  world  wiser  and  happier,  — 
while  consigning  all  mystic  theologies  to  the  ar- 
chives of  a  past  age,  as  types  of  man's  efforts  for 
progress  toward  true  knowledge,  to  be  placed  with 
the  prehistoric  remains  of  a  primitive  creation. 


253 


(Dvifltn  of 


CHAPTER  XV. 

RECAPITULATION 

IN  elaborating  from  the  Christian  Bible  a  life 
of  Christ  and  its  uselessness  in  advancing  civil- 
ization, we  will  here  give  our  impression  of  the 
religion  evolved  therefrom;  premising  that  we 
do  not  pretend  to  have  any  knowledge  or  proof 
that  there  is,  or  is  not,  to  be  a  future  life  hereafter. 
Nor  do  we  know  or  believe  that  any  human  being 
has,  or  ever  had,  any  knowledge  of  the  purpose 
of  this  creation,  the  history  of  its  origin,  or  its  final 
destiny. 

We  have  no  knowledge  or  conception,  as  we 
have  said,  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  mat- 
ter, or  the  beginning  and  end  of  space,  time,  or 
force;  we  have  a  conviction  that  amounts  to  a 
certainty  with  us  that  no  human  being  does  now, 
or  ever  did  have  any  knowledge  of  them.  We 
have  endeavored  to  give  a  rational  explanation  of 
254 


Supernatural 


the  motive  for  the  legends  and  supernatural  ap- 
pearances with  which  the  earliest  histories  are 
filled,  together  with  the  familiar  intercourse  be- 
tween gods  and  men;  most  frequent  in  the  ear- 
liest records. 

At  the  present  day  we  are  surrounded  by  a  na- 
tion that  worships  a  godhead  the  principal  entity 
of  which  is  Jesus  Christ,  whose  real  life  we  have 
endeavored  to  elaborate  from  the  meagre  history 
and  mythical  biographical  sketches  found  in  the 
Gospels. 

We  have  learned  from  the  several  sectarian 
creeds  of  those  who  worship  this  God  their  belief 
that  at  the  creation,  or  beginning  of  this  world, 
a  man  and  woman  were  created,  from  whom  all 
the  subsequent  races  of  the  earth  sprang  (which 
is  in  radical  opposition  to  the  facts  of  known  sci- 
ence); that  this  man  and  woman  were  forbidden 
to  eat  of  the  fruit  of  a  tree  in  the  garden  they  were 
placed  in,  which  would  impart  to  them  a  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil  ;  that,  in  their  eagerness  for 
information,  they  transgressed  the  command,  and 
attained  the  knowledge  God  had  forbidden,  show- 
ing that  God  had  not  control  over  his  own  crea- 
tion; that  this  dereliction  caused  them  to  be  ex- 
pelled from  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  condemned 

255 


of 


the  man  to  work  for  his  living,  and  the  woman  to 
suffer  in  childbirth;  that  this  sentence  was  not 
only  carried  out  in  the  case  of  the  transgressors, 
but  the  curse  descended  to  all  their  progeny. 

In  due  course  of  time  mankind  became  so  wicked 
that  God  swept  the  whole  race  from  the  face  of 
the  earth  by  a  flood,  and,  for  some  unexplained 
reason,  included  "  every  living  thing  "  except 
one  man  and  his  family,  with  a  pair  or  more  of 
"  every  living  creature,"  which  he  caused  to  be 
preserved  in  an  ark,  floating  upon  the  waters  that 
covered  the  whole  earth.  Thus  a  new  era  began 
with  a  holy  man  selected  by  God  to  repeople  the 
world.  We  find  the  descendants  of  this  favorite 
of  God,  Noah,  as  corrupt  apparently  as  the  pre- 
ceding population;  inheriting  the  corrupt  nature 
and  penalties  inflicted  on  Adam  and  Eve,  as  they 
spread  over  the  world,  peopling  it  with  all  the 
races  that  exist  at  the  present  day.1 

Among  the  several  nations  of  men,  many  of 
whom  arrived  at  a  high  degree  of  civilization, 
it  is  assumed  that  God  selected  a  nomadic  wan- 
derer, Abram,  whom  he  promised  to  care  for  above 
all  other  men  and  nations,  declaring  that  his  seed 

1  This  is  a  Babylonian  legend,  plagiarized  by  the  Jews  after 
their  return  from  captivity,  not  a  revelation  to  them. 

256 


Supernatural  Couccjmous 

should  become  a  great  nation,  dominating  all 
others.  God,  the  legend  declares,  also  prom- 
ised Abram  a  country  then  inhabited  by  Ca- 
naanites  in  undisputed  possession,  but  he  did  not 
gain  possession  of  it.  In  time  the  migratory  de- 
scendants of  Abram  found  themselves  in  slavery 
to  one  of  the  most  advanced  and  cultivated  na- 
tions on  earth.  From  their  servitude  they  say  God 
released  them  in  a  singularly  miraculous  way; 
and  they  wandered  about  forty  years,  apparently 
without  purpose,  —  during  which  time  many  died, 
—  until  they  finally  came  to  Canaan,  which  their 
leaders  told  them  God  had  given  to  their  ances- 
tor. This  country  they  found  themselves  strong 
enough  to  occupy,  by  driving  out  the  owners, 
under  the  sanction  of  God.  After  various  vicis- 
situdes, they  flourished  and  became  a  nation,  al- 
though never  a  dominant  one.  Subsequently  they 
Vere  conquered  and  led  captive  to  Babylon,  where 
they  remained  many  years,  enjoying  much  free- 
dom and  a  study  of  Babylonian  culture.  They 
were  finally  restored  to  Jerusalem  by  their  cap- 
tors, and  Ezra,  their  high  priest,  who  was  well 
versed  in  Babylonian  lore,  on  coming  to  rule  in 
Jerusalem,  assumed  to  inaugurate  the  old  Mo- 
saic laws,  and  compiled,  or  collected,  the  tradi- 
257 


of 


tions  that  have  come  down  to  us  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. After  many  mutations,  in  none  of  which 
did  the  nation  attain  preponderance,  they  came 
under  the  Roman  yoke  as  a  Roman  province. 

Recent  discoveries  have  developed  the  fact  that 
the  legend  of  the  creation  in  the  book  of  Gen- 
esis, attributed  to  Moses,  was  derived  from  Baby- 
lonian writings  by  the  Jews  during  their  captivity, 
and  was  adapted  by  them  to  the  God  of  Abraham, 
who  was  constituted  the  God  of  the  Israelites. 
The  monotheism  of  the  Jews  in  imitation  of  ear- 
lier cults  is  simply  an  assumption  that  their  God 
was  superior  to  the  gods  of  all  other  people;  but 
they  sometimes  worshipped  alien  gods,  contrary 
to  the  commands  of  their  own  deity.  As  a  proof 
that  they  did  not  adhere  to  one  God,  their  chief 
priest,  Aaron,  furnished  them  with  a  new  one 
when  he  and  they  thought  Moses  had  deserted 
them  with  his  God.  Their  idea  of  a  national  God 
had  often  been  announced  by  other  nations  be- 
fore the  time  of  Moses,  and  was  adopted  by  the 
multitude  of  the  Jews;  it  found  expression  in 
Babylonian  lore,  as  well  as  in  that  of  other  na- 
tions. Whether  the  God  of  Abraham  and  Moses 
was  the  only  true  God  or  not,  they  often  wor- 
shipped those  of  other  people.  His  covenant  to 

258 


aid  and  protect  the  Israelites,  regardless  of  all 
others,  history  shows  has  proved  as  bootless  as 
the  rest  of  the  legend. 

The  Jews  always  had  numerous  prophets,  as 
their  literature  abundantly  shows,  and  among 
their  prophecies  a  Messiah  was  promised,  who 
would  raise  them  up  to  be  a  great  and  independ- 
ent nation,  ruling  them  with  just  laws  for  all 
time.  This  was  the  universal  belief  of  the  Jews, 
although  they  were  then  reduced  to  a  subserviency 
to  Rome. 

At  this  time  there  was  born  in  Judea  a  child 
of  Jewish  parentage,  who  eventually  claimed  to 
be  the  promised  Messiah.  The  accounts  of  him 
state  that  he  was  miraculously  conceived  by  a  vir- 
gin, to  which  her  betrothed  husband  assented; 
although  in  no  instance  thereafter  is  it  recorded 
they  ever  proclaimed  his  miraculous  conception, 
"or  countenanced  his  teaching  as  Messiah.  We  have 
his  own  declaration  that  he  was  not  honored  as 
supernatural  in  his  own  house  or  among  his  own 
people;  and  he  repulsed  his  mother  and  breth- 
ren when  they  went  to  meet  him,  while  he  was 
surrounded  in  the  height  of  his  popularity  by  a 
host  of  followers  (showing  they  were  not  in  ac- 
cord), and  he  then  disowned  them.  This  man 

259 


of 


Jesus  had  a  peculiar  career  that  we  have  attempted 
to  deduce  from  the  Gospels,  which  finally  ended 
in  his  execution  by  the  Roman  governor  Pilate, 
who  published  the  cause  of  his  execution  on  the 
cross  in  three  languages,  that  all  might  under- 
stand it. 

After  his  death,  his  followers  and  their  converts 
formed  themselves  into  small  congregations,  gov- 
erned by  the  twelve  disciples  at  Jerusalem,  subse- 
quently declaring  him  to  be  the  son  of  God,  and 
claiming  they  had  seen  him  alive  after  his  execu- 
tion, which  no  one  else  did.  We  do  not  propose 
to  follow  the  contrariety  of  ideas  about  his  rela- 
tion to  "  God  the  Father  "  that  now  exist  and 
have  antagonized  the  Christian  sects  from  the 
beginning.  It  is  sufficient  to  note  that  Christians 
believe  in  original  sin  inherited  from  Adam,  and 
that  man  is  prone  to  be  wicked;  which  dogma 
we  have  no  doubt  is  a  potent  cause  of  much  of 
the  evil  in  Christendom.  The  creed  being  es- 
tablished that  man  is  wicked  naturally,  the  Chris- 
tian declares  that  after  thousands  of  years  of  this 
continuous  sinning,  during  which  time  legions  of 
human  beings  had  been  born  and  died,  built  tem- 
ples and  worshipped,  taught  morals  and  justice, 
forbearance  and  self-sacrifice,  to  the  best  of  their 
260 


Supernatural 


knowledge,  up  to  that  time  God  had  permitted 
all  the  world  to  live  on  in  ignorance  of  his  will  until 
some  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  at  which  time 
an  incomprehensible  son  was  incarnated  through 
a  Jewish  mother,  in  the  Roman  province  of  Judea, 
by  whom  and  her  spouse  Joseph  he  was  reared 
in  the  Jewish  faith. 

Christ,  after  his  birth,  spent  the  first  thirty  years 
of  his  life,  as  the  story  goes,  in  maturing,  without 
any  recorded  attempt  at  teaching.  About  that 
time  "  John  the  Baptist,"  his  cousin,  began  an- 
nouncing him  as  the  Messiah  the  prophecies  had 
promised  the  Jews.  John  became  popular  and 
had  numerous  followers.  He  gathered  hosts  of 
proselytes,  at  which  time  Christ  was  baptized  by 
him. 

Jesus  declared  his  mission  to  be,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  the  Jews  exclusively;  and  after  some  two 
years  of  action  in  gathering  a  host  of  followers, 
and  taking  possession  of  the  Temple,  in  which  he 
was  announced  "  King  of  the  Jews,"  he  was  ap- 
prehended, tried  by  the  Roman  governor  Pilate, 
found  guilty,  and  executed.  Thus,  out  of  more 
than  thirty  years  in  life,  he  spent  two  or  three  at 
most  in  a  mission  that  brought  him  to  an  igno- 
minious death  under  Roman  law. 
261 


of 


Christ's  disciples,  after  choosing  a  substitute 
for  Judas,  consorted  in  Jerusalem,  and  super- 
vised the  work  of  their  coadjutors,  the  believing 
Jews.  Subsequently  Paul,  antagonizing  Peter, 
extended  the  benefits  promised  the  Jews  to  Gen- 
tiles, other  than  the  circumcised  Jewish  nation, 
on  which  alone  it  had  before  been  conferred  by 
Christ.  The  Saviour,  or  Redeemer,  was  assumed 
by  Paul  to  be  sent  from  God,  or  to  have  come  of 
his  own  volition,  to  redeem  mankind  from  their 
sins,  and  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between  man 
and  God.  For  this  purpose,  it  is  claimed,  it  be- 
came necessary  that  he  should  die,  that  his  blood 
should  be  shed  for  the  remission  of  man's  sins, 
and  the  curse  inherited  from  Adam.  This  wholly 
unintelligible  problem  is  still  adhered  to  by  Chris- 
tians. 

It  is  inconceivable,  on  any  logical  theory,  that 
the  death  of  a  supernatural  teacher  could  advance 
the  cause  it  is  claimed  he  came  to  expound.  It 
is  certain  that  not  all  who  heard  him  believed  in 
his  divine  mission,  which,  if  true,  could  have  been 
best  exemplified  by  his  continuous  personal  teach- 
ing and  example.  His  death  has  caused  a  great 
diversity  of  opinion  among  his  followers  to  this  day. 

The  Christian  doctrine  is  that  the  first  require- 
262 


Supernatural 


ment  in  order  to  attain  the  benefit  of  this  great 
sacrifice  is,  first,  to  believe  in  Christ  as  the  Sa- 
viour through  whom  alone  man  can  be  saved  from 
eternal  punishment.  Secondly,  that  he  should 
lead  an  exemplary  life  void  of  sin.  With  many 
Christian  sects  the  latter  requisite  is  useless  and 
unavailing  without  the  first,  and  all  the  virtue 
and  goodness  of  unbelievers  is  futile;  while  dere- 
liction of  the  most  flagrant  character  will  be  for- 
given by  repentance,  coupled  with  a  firm  belief  in 
salvation  through  Christ. 

The  dogma  of  this  incarnate  God,  or  Saviour, 
slowly  spread,  through  the  fanatical  exertions  of 
the  disciples  who  still  believed  in  him;  in  which 
belief  they  were  confirmed  by  reported  visions  and 
supernatural  occurrences  such  as  often  appear 
to  ardent  followers  of  assumed  divinities.  The 
original  disciples,  following  Christ,  supposed  his 
mission  was  to  the  Jews;  but  Paul,  although  he 
believed  in  the  superiority  of  the  Jews,  saw  the  im- 
portance of  spreading  the  doctrine  among  the 
Gentiles,  which  has  done  more  to  popularize  him 
than  his  clear-headed  lawyer-like  tact  in  defence. 

After  a  precarious  and  struggling  existence, 
through  the  opposition  and  indifference  of  the 
Jewish  and  Roman  powers,  the  sect  increased 
263 


Of 


under  the  mild  rule  of  Hadrian;  and  when  Con- 
stantine  was  strengthening  himself  against  his 
opponents  he  saw  the  importance  of  securing 
this  potent  ally  that  would  be  bound  to  his  cause 
for  mutual  support.  Thus  commenced  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  new  religion  as  a  dominant 
power,  that  was  afterward  to  become  the  ruler 
of  Rome  and  the  rest  of  the  Western  world,  bind- 
ing men's  consciences  in  iron  grip  under  penalty 
of  torture  and  death.  Such  was  the  birth  and 
growth  of  this  religion,  founded  on  the  tradition 
of  an  aspirant  for  the  Jewish  Messiahship  and  rule 
of  the  Jewish  people  as  their  king,  in  which  he 
failed,  and  was  executed  for  the  attempt. 

While  this  religion  has  not  yet  attained  the  age 
of  the  older  ones  that  have  spread  over  many  na- 
tions and  a  larger  number  of  people,  it  chanced 
to  be  propagated  in  the  rapidly  advancing  West- 
ern communities,  mentally  and  physically  active. 
These  have,  in  defiance  of  its  stultifying  influence, 
burst  the  bonds  of  its  enthralment,  and  declared 
the  truths  of  nature  in  spite  of  its  antagonism. 
And  now,  attaining  through  the  power  of  modern 
science  a  higher  standard  unaided  by  religion,  it 
strives  to  avail  itself  of  the  results  it  has  so  strenu- 
ously opposed,  to  dominate  and  proselyte  those 
264 


Sujjcvuatural 

nations  where  modern  science  is  still  in  its  in- 
fancy, availing  itself  of  the  power  attained  by  it 
to  obtain  control  over  nations  less  enlightened 
by  science  which  it  opposed. 

At  the  present  day  we  are  met  with  a  formida- 
ble array  of  popular  beliefs  and  the  long-endur- 
ing assent  of  intellectual  thinkers  to  the  truth  of 
the  Christian  religion;  and  we  are  asked  if  we 
presume  to  oppose  our  views  to  the  great  world 
of  religious  belief  by  which  we  are  surrounded. 
The  answer  to  this  is  very  simple,  without  arro- 
gating to  ourselves  any  superior  knowledge  or 
acumen.  The  majority  of  the  human  race  do  not 
now  believe  the  Christian  dogma,  and  the  fact  is 
patent  to  every  reader  of  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian world  that  nearly,  if  not  quite  up  to  our  own 
times,  investigation  has  been  suppressed  by  penal 
laws,  ostracism,  and  contumely,  against  any  one 
"who  dared  to  offer  a  doubt,  even,  of  the  divinity 
of  Christ  and  his  assumed  mission;  while  chil- 
dren have  been  taught  from  earliest  infancy  that  it 
was  criminally  wicked  to  doubt  the  theological 
dogmas  instilled  into  their  minds  by  those  to  whom 
they  looked  for  guidance.  Thus  a  foregone  con- 
clusion has  been  interposed  as  a  barrier  to  free 
investigation,  not  only  by  dogmatic  suasion,  but 
265 


of 


by  statute  law,  against  all  liberty  of  thought  and 
inquiry  into  the  authority  and  truth  of  a  religion 
assumed  to  be  divinely  revealed  by  God  as  estab- 
lished in  Christian  lands. 

With  such  a  fearful  enthralment,  coupled  with  pen- 
alties, those  who  doubted  were  silenced,  and  forced 
to  outwardly  submit,  while  the  shackles  were  riv- 
eted tighter  by  the  pretence  that  all  goodness  was 
indissolubly  coupled  with  Christian  doctrine,  which, 
although  being  thus  enforced  upon  the  human 
mind  from  childhood,  can  have  but  little  weight 
in  the  search  for  truth. 


266 


Supernatural 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

THE  GENESIS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

THE  story  of  the  genesis  of  Christianity,  on 
which  the  illogical  dogma  is  founded,  describes  its 
originator  to  have  been  born  after  the  ordinary 
course  of  gestation,  in  a  Jewish  family,  but  that  he 
was  miraculously  conceived  while  his  mother  was 
a  virgin.  In  contravention  of  this  he  is  declared  to 
be  a  descendant  of  David,  which  could  not  be  true 
if  his  mother's  husband  was  not  his  father,  as  he  in- 
herited his  descent  from  David  through  him.  His 
mother  always  called  Joseph,  her  husband,  his 
father,  as  we  have  seen,  and  he  declared  himself  to 
be  "the  Son  of  Man."  No  important  incident  is 
related  of  him  after  his  infancy,  up  to  his  thirtieth 
year,  except  his  inconsequent  meeting  with  the  doc- 
tors in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  We  have  no  ac- 
count of  what  was  said  on  that  occasion,  but  it  was 
evidently  not  a  declaration  of  his  Messianic  mis- 
267 


2TJjc  (Dvfflin  of 

sion,  and  his  father  and  mother  disapproved  his 
action  at  that  time,  and  took  him  home  with  them, 
without  signifying  a  belief  in  any  abnormal  power 
vested  in  him;  "  and  he  was  subject  unto  them," 
which  implies  that  he  was  punished  for  his  derelic- 
tion, that  was  never  afterward  repeated.  It  is  a 
significant  fact  that  a  similar  story  was  related  of  the 
birth  of  Buddha,  hundreds  of  years  before  Christ's 
birth,  and  well  known  all  over  the  Eastern  world 
when  the  Gospels  were  written. 

We  find  that,  about  thirty  years  after  the  birth  of 
Christ,  and  his  relative,  John  the  Baptist,  John  ap- 
peared uniquely  clothed  in  camel's  hair,  with  a 
leather  girdle  about  his  loins,  and,  to  make  his  ad- 
vent more  striking,  he  fed  on  locusts  and  wild  honey, 
evidently  to  attract  notoriety  and  make  a  sensation. 
He  taught  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  and  gathered 
multitudes  about  him  from  all  the  region  round 
him.  His  cry  was,  "  Repent  ye :  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand !  "  saying  of  himself,  "  This  is  he 
that  was  spoken  of  by  the  prophet  Esaias,  saying, 
The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare 
ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  his  paths  straight,"  thus 
enacting  a  preconcerted  part. 

John   anathematized   the  Pharisees   and   Saddu- 
cees  who  came  to  hear  him,   well  knowing  they 
268 


Sitpevnatitval 


would  not  join  in  the  crusade  he  was  inaugurating; 
a  curse  afterward  emphasized  by  Christ. 

Christ  was  baptized  by  John,  to  confirm  his  mis- 
sion, and  connect  him  with  the  movement.  He  then 
retreated  to  await  John's  development  of  the  dem- 
onstration, during  which  time  it  is  related  the  epi- 
sode of  the  temptation  occurred,  in  which  Christ 
circumvented  the  devil. 

It  is  evident  that  John's  bold  crusade  was  at  last 
noticed  by  the  authorities,  and  he  was  imprisoned, 
at  which  Christ,  becoming  alarmed,  fled  into  Gali- 
lee, and  avoided  his  home,  Nazareth,  where  he 
might  have  been  traced.  He  went  to  Capernaum 
by  the  sea,  where  escape  was  easy,  and  by  it  he  also 
connected  himself  with  a  prophecy  wherein  those 
places  were  named,  without  the  remotest  reference, 
however,  to  him. 

John  having  been  imprisoned,  and  afterward  be- 
headed, the  whole  business  of  collecting  an  array 
of  followers,  and  organizing  the  force  that  was  to 
make  him  "  King  of  the  Jews,"  fell  upon  Jesus, 
who  evidently  had  but  little  military  knowledge. 
He  began  by  choosing  twelve  coadjutants,  mostly 
among  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  a  hardy  race,  en- 
thusiastic and  credulous.  In  this  choice  he  made 
one  mistake,  that  afterward  proved  disastrous.  At 
269 


of 


that  time  he  was  active  in  getting  his  forces  organ- 
ized, and  the  occasion  was  so  strenuous  that  he  ap- 
peared almost  brutal  in  refusing  to  let  one  of  his  fol- 
lowers go  to  bury  his  father,  saying,  "  Let  the  dead 
bury  their  dead,"  a  random  utterance,  without 
meaning.  In  these  active  times  he  repudiated  his 
mother  and  brothers,  as  he  commanded  his  followers 
to  do  in  this  perilous  time  of  action.  He  exhorted 
his  coadjutors  to  leave  every  tie  to  follow  his  cause, 
and  to  practise  every  conceivable  act  of  abnegation 
to  serve  him,  promising  them  ample  reward  for 
faithful  service,  which  he  frankly  told  them  would 
be  dangerous;  while  he  threatened  them  with  hell- 
fire  if  they  were  derelict,  telling  them  to  fear  not 
those  that  can  kill  the  body,  but  rather  fear  him 
who  could  destroy  body  and  soul  in  hell-fire.  He 
charged  them  to  take  no  thought  for  their  life;  and 
if  they  had  not  a  sword,  to  sell  their  garment  to  buy 
one. 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  addressed  to 
thousands  of  his  ignorant  followers  gathered  to  do 
his  bidding.  It  was  evidently  delivered  to  incite 
them  to  serve  him  with  self-abnegation  obediently 
and  with  reckless  bravery  in  action.  It  is  Jewish  in 
character  and  sentiment,  and  addressed  exclusively 
to  Jews  who  were  about  to  attempt  to  make  him 
270 


Supernatural 


their  king,  and  establish  "  a  kingdom  of  heaven  " 
in  Jerusalem;  for  which  purpose  they  marched  up 
to  that  city,  a  formidable  host,  and  took  possession 
of  the  Temple  under  his  command  (as  we  have  seen), 
and  drove  out  the  occupants,  shouting  hosannas, 
and  proclaiming  him  "  Son  of  David,"  and  "  King 
of  the  Jews."  This  belligerent  act  was  objected  to 
by  the  priests,  the  rulers  of  the  Temple,  to  whom  he 
refused  to  give  any  account  for  his  acts.  He  left 
Jerusalem  that  night  and  retreated  to  safer  quarters 
at  Bethany.  He  returned  in  the  morning,  and  on 
his  way  back  exhibited  his  miraculous  powers  to  his 
followers  by  killing  a  fig-tree,  a  feat,  however  ef- 
fected, well  calculated  to  give  his  followers  admoni- 
tion in  the  coming  contest;  with  the  assurance  that 
they  could  do  the  like  and  remove  mountains  if  they 
had  sufficient  faith. 

After  his  entering  Jerusalem,  he  dictated  in  the 
Temple  until  he  was  expelled,  after  refusing  to  tell 
its  guardians  by  what  authority  he  acted.  The  ac- 
count of  his  expulsion  is  wholly  omitted,  as  it  was 
evidently  a  defeat  ;  but  that  he  was  expelled  is  cer- 
tain, as  we  read  that  he  roundly  cursed  his  oppo- 
nents, lamenting  that  Jerusalem  would  not  come 
under  his  rule,  and  prophesying  its  destruction, 
which  clearly  shows  the  depth  of  his  disappoint- 
271 


2Ti)e  ©ttfltn  of 

ment,  and  the  vengeful  nature  of  his  character. 
From  that  time  he  clearly  saw  that  his  cause  as 
"  King  of  the  Jews  "  was  ended,  and  he  retired  to 
the  Mount  of  Olives.  At  this  period  of  his  disaster 
his  disciples  went  to  him  privately  to  learn  in  what 
way  he  proposed  to  establish  the  kingdom  he  had 
promised  them.  His  answer  is  characteristic  of  his 
assumption  of  divinity  by  an  equivocal  evasion:  he 
had  evidently  not  then  given  up  the  fight.  After 
describing  the  tribulations  and  horrors  they  were 
to  witness,  and  the  miraculous  escapes  they  were  to 
undergo,  they  would  see  him  coming  in  the  clouds 
with  great  power  and  glory,  with  angels,  and  a 
great  sound  of  trumpets,  to  call  the  elect  together 
from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the 
other.  Could  there  be  conceived  a  more  thor- 
oughly mundane  picture  of  ideal  angels,  and  other 
properties  of  a  theatrical  phantasmagoria,  to  be- 
wilder the  brains  of  his  credulous  acolytes  ?  But  he 
knew  the  extent  of  their  infatuation,  and  availed 
himself  of  it  to  extricate  himself  from  the  conse- 
quences of  his  failure  to  become  king  at  that  time. 

After  he  was  driven  from  the  Temple  his  army  of 

followers  seem  to  have  deserted  him,  probably  after 

a  bloody  fight,  if  his  lamentations  about  the  blood 

of  the  righteous  is  an  indication.     This  was  evi- 

272 


courtpttcmg 

dently  the  termination  of  his  active  career  on  earth. 
He  was  soon  after  taken,  through  the  treachery  of 
one  of  his  disciples  who  knew  his  retreat,  and 
judged  from  the  bellicose  character  of  his  followers 
that  resistance  was  to  be  expected.  Judas  went 
with  a  strongly  armed  force  to  overcome  resistance 
and  arrested  him.  He  was  first  taken  before  the 
Jewish  high  priest,  who  could  only  try  him  for  dese- 
cration of  the  Temple,  not  a  capital  offence  under 
Roman  law.  So  he  was  transferred  to  the  Roman 
governor  Pilate,  under  the  graver  charge  of  attempt- 
ing to  make  himself  "  King  of  the  Jews,"  of  which 
there  was  ample  proof,  and  Christ  seems  to  have 
acknowledged  it.  For  that  offence  he  was  executed, 
having  the  indictment  blazoned  upon  his  cross  in 
three  languages.  This  shows  that  he  did  not  suf- 
fer death  for  any  sacrificial  or  sectarian  purpose,  or 
any  act  against  Jewish  law;  but  for  attempting  to 
rebel  against  Roman  law,  by  essaying  to  establish 
a  kingdom  in  dereliction  of  Roman  sovereignty,  — 
a  capital  offence  that  Pilate  took  especial  care  to 
announce  at  his  execution. 

On  the  delusive  basis  founded  on  this  episode, 
there  has  grown  up  a  religion  dominating  the  West- 
ern world.     After  three  hundred  years  of  precari- 
ous existence,  founded  on  legends  singularly  inter- 
273 


of 


woven  with  earlier  traditions  of  more  ancient  people 
of  an  incarnate  God  and  Saviour,  this  religious 
sect,  which  in  time  had  gained  strength  in  num- 
bers, imbued  with  fanaticism,  and  persistent  through 
antagonism  and  persecution,  came  to  the  notice  of 
the  Roman  emperor  Constantine,  who  was  seeking 
support  from  any  quarter;  and  he,  perceiving  the 
strength  he  could  secure  from  such  an  ally,  took 
them  under  his  patronage  and  protection,  modify- 
ing, governing,  and  controlling  them  to  suit  his 
purposes,  notably,  in  the  change  of  their  holy  day 
from  the  Jewish  Sabbath  (always  before  kept  by 
them  under  the  belief  that  it  was  the  command  of 
God)  to  Sunday,  the  holy  day  of  the  sun-  worship- 
pers, who  were  also  favored  and  patronized  by  the 
emperor.  The  Gentile  Christians  more  readily  as- 
sented to  this  change  on  account  of  their  enmity  to 
the  Jews,  with  whom  their  religion  originated, 
wholly  disregarding  the  declaration  of  Christ  that 
the  law  should  not  be  changed  "  one  jot  or  tittle." 
Such  was  the  elasticity  of  the  Christian  religion 
that  the  emperor's  reverence  for  another  faith  over- 
rode the  command  of  the  Christians'  God. 

From  the  time  of  Constantine,  about  A.  D.  300, 
Christianity  has  dominated  the  Roman  world,  ow- 
ing to  his  patronage  of  the  Roman  bishop,  and  it 
274 


ftonctptious 

has  pervaded  all  Europe  and  America.  Under 
Christian  rule  were  the  feuds  of  the  early  churches 
enacted,  with  their  dissensions  and  acrimony;  then 
the  dominance  and  intolerance  of  the  Roman  hier- 
archy prevailed,  with  its  fearful  atrocities  and  bar- 
barous suppression  of  free  thought,  with  death 
penalties  for  declaring  an  enlightening  truth.  This 
intolerance  was  kept  up  by  the  bigoted  Protestant 
sects,  until  science  gradually  enforced  its  right  to 
investigate  nature  and  utter  the  truth  about  it, 
which  antagonized  the  false  traditions  of  their 
theology. 

The  present  age  still  retains  the  lingering  rem- 
nant of  a  theological  control  in  legislation,  although 
forbidden  in  the  American  Constitution,  which 
appears  in  Sabbatarian  laws,  and  an  inequitable 
interference  with  personal  rights  and  liberty  of 
action.  All  this  has  been,  and  is  now  done,  under 
the  guise  of  Christian  belief;  teaching  an  abnor- 
mal supernatural  and  exclusive  dogma,  favoring 
none  of  the  human  race  but  the  believers  in  its 
mythical  legends.  We  find  it  now  making  strenu- 
ous efforts  to  force  the  world  to  adopt  the  many- 
sided  enigmas  and  contradictions,  that  are  as  il- 
logical and  unphilosophical  as  can  be  conceived, 
with  all  its  stultifying  of  common  sense  and  reason. 

275 


of 


The  Christian  dogma  is  the  result  of  a  belief 
that  a  person  executed  over  nineteen  hundred 
years  ago,  for  trying  to  become  "  King  of  the  Jews," 
knew  more  about  a  future  life  than  we  do;  al- 
though it  is  evident  that  he  knew  nothing  about 
the  structure  and  cosmology  of  the  universe,  and 
the  world  he  lived  in. 

A  teaching  in  early  youth  of  the  grossest  falla- 
cies is  a  fearful  impediment  to  the  mental  free- 
dom of  most  minds;  even  with  the  strongest  in- 
tellectually, it  is  a  problem  if  the  poison  can  be 
eradicated.  It  is  much  harder  to  unlearn  than  to 
learn;  it  is  much  harder  to  analyze  a  belief  than 
to  believe. 

The  title  of  Christian  Nation  is  false  as  applied 
to  the  United  States;  it  is  in  contravention  of  the 
Constitution,  and  rests  only  on  the  assumption  that 
a  majority  of  its  inhabitants  are  Christians.  The 
founders  of  this  republic  were  wise  enough  to  see 
the  danger  to  freedom  in  the  dogmatic  rule  of  any 
religion,  and  so  framed  their  Constitution  under 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  as  to  admit, 
with  equal  rights,  all  religions,  of  whatever  name 
or  nature,  that  did  not  interfere  with  the  equal 
rights  of  other  religions. 

The  Constitution  declares  that  all  have  an  equal 
276 


Conceptions 

right  to  enjoy  full  liberty  of  conscience  in  act  and 
deed,  without  molestation  or  interference.  This 
was  the  first  dawn  of  real  liberty,  which  the  Chris- 
tian sects  are  now  striving  to  smother.  First  force 
the  nation  to  declare  itself  Christian,  and  then  the 
strongest  sect  will  rule. 


277 


of 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   STATUS   OF  HUMAN  ATTAINMENT 

IF  in  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  shown 
that  there  is  no  foundation  but  the  traditional 
legends  of  unknown  authors,  based  on  the  crea- 
tive intellect  of  primitive  people,  for  the  super- 
natural religions  of  the  world,  and  that  the  stories 
of  spiritual  acts,  miracles,  and  especially  the  di- 
rect personal  communication  between  men  and 
a  god  or  gods,  angels,  spirits,  afrites,  or  devils,  are 
simply  the  work  of  the  human  imagination,  we 
are  compelled  to  turn  to  their  mental  powers  for  the 
legitimate  source  of  human  knowledge  and  the 
fountain  of  truth  by  man  attainable. 

In  the  evolution  of  human  intelligence  and 
thought,  the  active  mind  of  man  has  shown  an 
erratic  series  of  random  lines,  in  striving  to  as- 
certain the  true  course  of  legitimate  knowledge. 
The  free  flight  of  the  imagination  into  regions 
unknown  naturally  followed  the  course  of  least 


Supernatural 


resistance,  and  expanded  into  innumerable  pic- 
tures of  the  supernatural,  that  consolidated  into 
a  multiplicity  of  religions,  with  which  the  world's 
literature  is  filled.  It  is  evident  from  the  result 
that  so  far  these  wanderings  have  only  tended 
by  their  dogmas  to  produce  aberrance  from  the 
true  purpose  of  man's  being.  The  only  legitimate 
knowledge  obtainable  by  man  must  be  derived 
from  facts,  and  not  from  the  emotions,  which  tend 
to  good  or  evil  as  they  are  directed  by  human 
impulse.  Man  is  constituted  to  discern  good 
from  evil,  right  from  wrong,  and  the  attainment 
of  them  so  far  as  his  knowledge  extends.  His  er- 
rors invariably  arise  from  misapprehension  of  the 
laws  governing  the  universe,  a  correct  knowledge 
of  which  is  not  yet  fully  attained  by  investiga- 
tion untrammelled  by  preconceived  ideas. 

From  the  advent  of  the  earliest  religions  to  the 
present  time  righteousness  and  sin  have  been  form- 
ulated, with  multitudinous  interpretations  of  what 
constituted  right  and  wrong.  In  the  majority  of 
cases  the  rules  that  determined  these  questions  were 
entirely  artificial,  and  often  led  to  acts  wantonly 
barbarous,  arbitrarily  governing  and  directing  men, 
contrary  to  their  convictions,  a  result  which  has 
ever  accompanied  formulated  religions,  while  their 
279 


teachings  have  sometimes  led  to  self-sacrifice  and 
torture.  Most  of  the  religious  teachings  of  the 
world  picture  the  supreme  controller  of  creation 
as  having  placed  imperfect  erring  beings  on  this 
earth,  as  it  would  seem  for  the  purpose  of  venge- 
fully  punishing  all  who  did  not  live  up  to  the  ar- 
tificial rules  established  by  authority.  The  horrid 
and  fiendish  idea  of  eternal  punishment  for  past 
sins,  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  reformation, 
is  a  cardinal  Christian  dogma,  and  is  the  active 
agent  in  terrorizing,  and  rendering  the  lives  of 
thousands  unhappy,  while  it  is  a  source  of  large 
profit  to  priests,  bishops,  and  other  organized 
teachers,  who  claim  to  have  authority  not  vouch- 
safed to  ordinary  men.  Such  a  dogma,  if  true, 
would  show  the  purpose  of  the  originator  of  man's 
being  to  be  more  malicious  and  vengeful  than  the 
human  fiends  who  concocted  the  malevolent  in- 
terpretation of  the  phenomena  of  which  they  were 
entirely  ignorant. 

So  far  as  the  Christian  dogma  of  vengeful  pun- 
ishment is  concerned,  it  is  confirmed  by  Christ 
himself,  who  displayed  a  most  virulent  attitude 
toward  all  who  opposed  his  establishing  a  "king- 
dom of  heaven "  in  Jerusalem  with  himself  as 
"King  of  the  Jews."  As  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
280 


Supernatural  (Koncrptious 

sees,  together  with  all  the  educated  Jews,  opposed 
him,  he  hurled  curses  and  anathemas  at  them, 
together  with  hell-fire,  —  a  very  potent  threat  to 
awe  his  followers,  but  which  proved  quite  harm- 
less to  those  against  whom  it  was  directed,  who 
were  potential  authorities,  respected  by  the  na- 
tion. This  element  of  exterminating  vengeance 
often  appears  in  Christ's  accredited  sayings. 

When  men  appreciate  generally  "  the  golden 
rule,"  taught  as  early  as  Confucius,  unaccompa- 
nied by  dogmatic  and  arbitrary  theology,  they  will 
make  more  rapid  progress  in  equitable  laws  and 
customs  toward  the  higher  civilization. 

From  a  series  of  ages  beyond  historic  date  na- 
tions have  existed;  civilization  and  refinement 
have  advanced,  and  profound  thought  has  been 
displayed;  men  have  labored  to  eliminate  truth, 
justice,  and  right  from  error  and  wrong  in  their 
natures.  From  age  to  age  profound  thinkers  have 
uttered  grand  and  axiomatic  truths  that  all  man- 
kind could  understand  and  appreciate.  Many 
of  these  axioms  have  been  incorporated  into  all  relig- 
ions, and  form  a  part  of  their  teachings  down  to 
the  present  day.  Some  of  these  profound  thoughts 
have  been  attributed  to  divine  revelation;  others 
to  inspired  prophets,  saints,  and  sages.  Often 
281 


of 


later  maxims  have  been  attributed  to  philoso- 
phers of  earlier  times,  to  enhance  their  authority. 
It  is  notably  the  case  that  such  utterances  have 
been  ascribed  to  revelation  in  religious  dogmas, 
that  have  come  into  existence  since  the  historic 
period,  in  which  the  earlier  episodes  and  apothegms 
are  introduced  and  attributed  to  more  modern 
religions,  in  which  they  are  ascribed  to  their  dei- 
ties as  original  revelations. 

The  assumption  that  the  originator  of  this  uni- 
verse would  permit  mankind  to  wander  on  in  er- 
rors fatal  to  their  good  through  century  after  cen- 
tury, during  which  legions  of  human  beings  lived 
and  died,  possessing  all  the  natural  attributes  of 
modern  humanity,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time 
he  would  awaken  to  the  necessity  of  enlighten- 
ing and  redeeming  them  from  eternal  misery  by 
a  new  plenary  revelation,  is  too  unqualifiedly  ir- 
rational to  be  accepted  by  any  man  who  has  an 
intelligent  conception  of  a  just  and  equitable  Cre- 
ator. 

We  have  seen  from  the  nebulous  histories  of 
prejudiced  narrators  the  course  of  religious  be- 
liefs from  prehistoric  times.  It  is  desirable  that, 
out  of  the  chaos  of  fabled  legends  and  imaginings 
of  man  untutored  in  science,  there  should  be  evolved 
282 


a  fixed  criterion  of  truth  as  a  guide  to  future  in- 
vestigations, irrespective  of  prior  opinions. 

We  have  endeavored  to  show  that  man  in  his 
uncultivated  state,  after  the  powers  of  ratiocina- 
tion and  observation,  of  cause  and  effect  had  been 
developed,  believed  that  a  being  or  beings  existed 
capable  of  producing  the  creation  he  was  surrounded 
by,  and  believing  the  earth  to  be  an  immovable, 
stable  body,  he  pictured  the  "  firmament "  above 
him  as  the  dwelling-place  of  this  invisible  being, 
or  host,  from  which  it  all  originated.  This  is  dis- 
pelled by  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  universe. 

The  organization  of  gregarious  animals  into 
communities  results  generally  in  certain  restrictions 
of  individual  action  necessary  to  their  association; 
this  appears  in  the  most  pronounced  forms  in  the 
genus  homo.  The  rudest  barbarian  tribes  have 
their  chiefs  and  rulers.  As  they  grow  more  refined 
laws  and  regulations  are  adopted  that  serve  to  give 
the  rulers  a  defined  and  established  power,  more  and 
more  circumscribed  as  man  advances  in  modern 
acquirement. 

With  the  known  attributes  of  earliest  association, 

and  the  usages  of  earthly  rulers,  chiefs  who  could  be 

influenced  and  placated  by  presents  and  adulations, 

men    approached    the    invisible   power  that  tran- 

283 


of 


scended  all  earthly  authority  by  the  same  methods. 
These  powers  they  felt  assured  existed  from  the 
thunderings  and  lightnings  that  often  proved  dis- 
astrous, sometimes  striking  them  dead,  against 
which  they  could  offer  no  resistance,  while  the  co- 
pious showers  frpm  the  reservoirs  above  the  firma- 
ment, filled  with  water,  must  be  actuated  by  some 
being  invisible  to  them,  and  they  prayed  to  be  sup- 
plied by  the  conservators  from  that  vast  storage  in 
time  of  need. 

Men  believed  from  the  assurance  of  their  senses 
that  the  earth  they  lived  on  was  firm  and  immov- 
able, with  a  dome  over  it  visible  to  the  eyes,  spa- 
cious enough  to  contain  a  host  of  gods,  demigods, 
and  angels,  or  other  spirits  with  which  their  imag- 
inations peopled  them  sufficient  to  execute  the  com- 
mands of  their  superiors. 

It  was  then  inconceivable  that  the  multitudinous 
phenomena  observed  could  be  produced  otherwise 
than  by  innumerable  hands.  As  these  observations 
matured,  aided  by  dreams  and  unaccountable  phe- 
nomena, the  fertile  imagination  of  men  gradually 
formulated  mythical  communities  of  deities  and 
supernatural  events,  generally  picturesque  and  often 
sublime,  with  exaggerations  of  virtues,  sufferings, 
dangers,  and  escapes,  commensurate  with  the  au- 
284 


eroucqmous 

thor's  conception  of  deity.  On  investigation  it 
will  be  perceived  that  all  these  mythic  religions 
are  but  the  fictions  of  man's  errant  thought, 
sometimes  based  upon  or  attributed  to  a  wise 
teacher  or  suffering  martyr;  enveloped  in  miracles, 
revelations,  supernatural  birth,  and  the  like;  in 
later  times  these  occult  phenomena  were  borrowed 
from  earlier  legends. 

Moral  aphorisms,  maxims,  proverbs,  axioms,  and 
truisms  pervade  all  the  religious  teachings,  from 
earliest  records,  often  subtile  and  profound,  some- 
times attaining  the  highest  ethical  standard.  The 
symbolical  representations  of  the  gods  and  their 
attributes  have  often  been  mistaken  for  idols  by 
ignorant  and  dogmatical  observers,  as  have  the 
sacred  animals,  that  have  been  construed  to  mean 
the  deity  they  symbolized,  a  purport  never  dreamed 
of  by  their  originators. 

The  varied  constructions  put  upon  the  ancient 
religions  are  only  equalled  by  the  multiplicity  and 
contrariety  of  definitions  of  modern  religions.  The 
endless  literature  of  the  Hindus,  the  Brahmanical 
expositions  of  the  Vedas  with  subtile  interpretations 
of  the  sublimated  text,  quite  equal  the  modern 
body  of  doctrines  promulgated  by  Christian  au- 
thors. The  Christian  and  Mohammedan  sects  have 

285 


of 

written  libraries  of  works  defending  their  varying 
and  antagonistic  creeds,  with  no  warrant  for  the 
truth  of  any  of  their  authors'  teachings. 

If  in  the  preceding  pages  we  have  been  able  to 
call  attention  to  the  persistent  aberration  of  the 
human  mind,  in  following  the  chimeras  evolved  by 
primitive  people  in  attempting  to  solve  the  purpose 
of  creation,  in  which  every  pretender  to  super- 
human attainments  is  eagerly  believed  to  possess 
knowledge  as  an  expounder  of  a  future  existence, 
about  which  man  in  his  present  state  knows  noth- 
ing, it  may  be  that  we  shall  have  given  some  small  aid 
in  directing  human  thought  into  a  legitimate  course 
of  discovery  to  attain  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  highest  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  capa- 
bilities of  the  human  race,  that  no  dogma  about  a 
hereafter  will  ever  accomplish;  if  so,  we  shall  have 
succeeded  in  our  purpose,  and  shall  submit  with 
equanimity  to  all  the  adverse  criticism  with  which 
we  may  be  favored. 


286 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

MAN'S  PRESENT  STATUS 

AMONG  the  most  prominent  questions  that  have 
engaged  the  philosophers  of  the  ancient  world  and 
the  scientists  of  modern  times  is  the  anthropo- 
genic creation,  man.  Speculations  innumerable  and 
endless  theories  have  been  formulated,  evolving 
religions  more  or  less  ideal,  with  claims  of  revealed 
truths  that  modern  culture  shows  to  be  wholly  fic- 
titious, but  always  with  the  fundamental  theory 
that  this  universe  was  created  for  the  single  pur- 
pose of  elaborating  the  human  race,  and  develop- 
ing its  status  in  a  future  existence  for  which  this 
life  is  a  temporary  preparation.  Such  ideas  were 
very  natural  when  it  was  assumed  that  this  world 
was  a  stationary  central  body,  a  terra  firma  around 
which  the  heavenly  bodies  revolved,  and  over 
which  a  firmament,  a  solid  dome,  was  superposed, 
from  which  was  poured  out  water  to  irrigate  the 
dry  land,  and  from  which  came  the  voices  of  the 
287 


of 


spirit-world  in  thunders  and  evidences  of  wrath  in 
winds  and  lightnings,  tempests  and  droughts,  in- 
conceivable unless  the  heavens  above  were  peopled 
by  invisible  beings  who  produced  those  tangible 
results,  apparently  for  the  sole  benefit  of  man. 

But  modern  research  has  obliterated  these  fic- 
tions, and  shown  mankind  the  true  place  occupied 
by  this  planet  in  the  universe,  and  that  man  is  a 
minute  creation  in  the  immensity,  inconceivably 
engrossing  the  principal  care  and  attention  of  the 
originator,  as  his  egotism  has  caused  him  to  believe. 

The  realization  of  the  fact  that  man  in  common 
with  all  living  things  was  predestined  to  die,  caused 
him  to  originate  an  exception  for  himself  in  a  sub- 
sequent existence,  that  infinite  theories  have  for- 
mulated into  innumerable  religions,  which  have 
been  believed  in  from  the  beginning  of  recorded 
society.  The  modern  scientist  holds  all  these  im- 
aginary attempts  at  their  true  value,  as  the  mere 
fabrications  of  idealism,  while  he  is  met  with  the 
profound  but  unanswerable  question,  —  What  is 
the  purpose  of  this  immeasurably  wonderful  crea- 
tion ?  For  what  is  it  destined  ? 

No  .fact  can  be  more  certain  than  that  all  the 
attempts  at  a  solution  of  these  questions  hereto- 
fore essayed  have  been  inadequate  and  speculative. 
288 


Supernatural 


The  enigma  is  as  profound  now  as  it  ever  was,  and 
all  the  religious  dogmas  that  have  ever  been  elab- 
orated have  not  only  thrown  no  light  upon  the 
question,  but  have  served  to  distract  men's  attention 
from  the  pursuit  of  real  knowledge. 

We  have  attained  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  that 
there  are  on  earth  existences  in  various  stages  of 
mental  capacity,  from  a  very  low  appreciation  of 
being,  only  sufficient  to  continue  their  existence, 
up  to  a  capacity  for  warring,  strategy,  and  defence, 
in  contact  with  other  activities;  and  we  note  that 
while  man  displays  a  more  perfect  knowledge  than 
any  of  the  other  entities  by  which  he  is  surrounded, 
he  is  in  some  particulars  physically,  if  not  men- 
tally, inferior  to  other  animated  beings.  In  search- 
ing for  the  cause  of  these  phenomena  we  perceive 
that  the  actuating  source  of  all  thought  and  action 
is  the  centre  of  the  nervous  system,  the  brain,  which 
anatomically  widely  differs  in  the  different  species 
of  the  animal  creation,  increasing  in  complexity  as 
a  more  perfect  intelligence  is  developed.  This 
points  to  a  conclusion  that  the  more  elaborate  that 
organ  is,  the  more  perfect  will  be  the  intellect.  But 
further,  the  powers  of  the  brain  are  multiplex,  and 
while  the  human  brain  is  vastly  superior  to  any 
other,  in  some  functions  the  inferior  brains  of  other 
289 


8Tl)r  ©rfflfn  of 

animals  exceed  ours.  We  have  a  further  confirma- 
tion of  the  connection  of  the  brain  with  the  power 
of  thought  in  human  beings  where  the  brain  is  atro- 
phied, undeveloped,  or  otherwise  diseased,  show- 
ing a  defective  intellect.  From  this  we  deduce  the 
fact  that  the  amount  of  intellect  is  in  exact  accord- 
ance with  the  perfection  of  the  brain  construc- 
tion, as  a  musical  instrument  responds  to  an  im- 
pulse given  it  in  exact  accordance  with  its  forma- 
tion. We  thus  have  a  resultant  from  a  physical 
entity  that  is  intelligible  to  our  powers  of  reasoning, 
and  we  know  that  this  entity  has  a  limited  power 
and  existence,  is  born,  performs  the  offices  that  its 
structure  indicates,  and  dies;  the  elements  com- 
posing it  assuming  other  forms  in  endless  succes- 
sion. 

But  there  is  another  element  in  this  wonderful 
problem,  the  vivifying  force  that  can  only  actu- 
ate this  entity  in  exact  accordance  with  its  struc- 
ture, to  which  its  powers  are  limited,  and  which 
it  can  in  no  wise  exceed.  Just  here  the  tangible 
facts  become  speculative,  and  the  ratiocination, 
imagination,  and  observation  of  man  are  brought 
into  play  to  eliminate  the  impelling  cause  that 
actuates  and  controls  the  ego,  which  cannot  ex- 
ceed the  limits  of  its  organization.  Finding  him- 
290 


Supernatural 

self  thus  limited,  resort  is  had  to  imaginings  of 
artificial  creation,  expanding  out  into  dreams,  and 
assumption  of  revelation,  which  has  culminated 
in  traditions,  of  marvels  that  have  taken  the  place 
of  historic  facts,  which  have  been  augmented  by 
impostors  who  have  availed  themselves  of  the  cre- 
dulity of  men  in  their  desire  to  probe  the  unknown, 
by  a  pretence  of  knowledge  beyond  its  limits,  that 
deceived  the  wisest  in  times  past. 

All  the  religions  that  have  ever  existed  in  the 
world,  as  we  have  said,  are  based  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  this  earth  was  stationary  and  central, 
around  which  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  revolved, 
and  that  there  was  a  spirit  land  in  the  firmament 
inhabited  by  spirits,  or  supernatural  beings.  We 
now  know  that  the  theory  of  a  stationary  world 
is  false,  and  that  no  religion  based  upon  it  can  be 
a  revelation  from  a  superior  intelligence. 

We  also  know  that  the  laws  governing  this  cre- 
ation, so  far  as  they  have  been  discovered,  are  im- 
mutable, and  that  any  pretence  to  the  contrary  is 
fabulous.  There  is  a  generally  accepted  axiom 
that  every  effect  has  a  cause;  if  this  be  true  there 
must  have  been  some  force,  power,  will,  or  intel- 
ligence, by  whatever  name  called,  that  originated 
this  universe,  if  it  ever  had  an  origin,  transcendently 
291 


of 


wise  and  powerful.  Of  its  origin  we  can  have  no 
conception,  nor  of  its  termination.  It  is  incon- 
ceivable that  this  immensity  of  creation  should 
have  been  made  for  no  purpose;  and  it  is  equally 
inconceivable  that  it  has  culminated  in  man,  an 
infinitesimal  part  of  creation.  It  seems  impossi- 
ble to  doubt  that  there  is  a  final  or  a  constantly 
advancing  purpose  in  this  ever  moving  universe, 
but  to  attempt  to  solve  it,  with  our  present  knowl- 
edge, or  to  claim  that  it  has  been  revealed  to  any 
one,  is  idle. 

We  have  no  just  conception  of  the  author  of  this 
existence;  we  but  just  begin  to  correctly  under- 
stand the  phenomena  by  which  we  are  surrounded, 
and  that  only  imperfectly.  We  are  but  now  be- 
ginning to  learn  the  uses  of  the  goods  we  are  so 
lavishly  surrounded  by,  and  the  ameliorations  we 
are  capable  of  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  We 
have  been  so  busy  with  the  unseen,  and  profit- 
less search  for  the  unknowable,  which  we  are  not 
to  attain  in  our  present  state,  that  we  have  neg- 
lected the  attainable.  The  wise  will  only  seek  the 
knowledge  they  can  compass. 

Many  religionists  seem  unconscious  of  the  gross 
traducement  they  perpetrate  in  declaring  this  to  be 
"  a  world  of  sin  and  misery,"  "  a  vale  of  tears," 
292 


Supernatural  <£aurc))ttou& 

a  preparatory  school  for  a  future  better  world  of 
bliss,  in  which,  if  they  do  not  follow  the  prescribed 
rules  of  their  peculiar  theological  creed,  they  will 
not  be  allowed  to  participate.  This  world  is  a 
home,  made  with  inconceivable  perfection,  in  which 
we  are  placed  with  mental  and  physical  powers, 
to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  it. 

Nothing  extraneous  to  this  ever  was,  or  ever 
will  be,  given  to  us  by  gods,  angels,  or  demons. 
We  are  here  to  perfect  our  relations  with  this 
home,  that  is  our  present  habitat;  we  have  not 
yet  achieved  a  knowledge  of  "  the  goods  the  gods 
have  given  us,"  while  idling  our  time  away  upon 
speculations  about  a  future  life  in  another  sphere, 
where  we  shall  not  have  to  earn  our  own  living. 
Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  the  fact  that  the  book 
of  nature  is  here  before  us,  in  which  we  may  study 
and  achieve  our  greatest  temporal  good;  and  the 
higher  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  worldly  perfection, 
the  more  clearly  shall  we  see  that  the  advancement 
of  our  fellow  men  in  knowledge,  bodily  comfort, 
and  equitable  rights  in  the  goods  we  have  attained 
to,  the  happier  we  shall  be  individually. 

Of  what  value  would  be  billions  of  coin  to  the 
refined  gentleman,  scholar,  or  scientist,  in  the 
niidst  of  an  unappreciative,  ignorant,  and  uncul- 
293 


Supernatural  Conceptions 

tivated  people?  Religionists  per  se  are  so  intent 
on  propagating  their  faith,  that  social  science  is 
lost  sight  of,  and  but  for  the  intervention  of  mod- 
ern science,  which,  happily,  in  recent  times  has 
curtailed  theological  dictums  within  a  more  rea- 
sonable sphere,  we  should  be  still  fluttering  our 
unfledged  wings  in  aspiring  to  fly  into  spiritual 
worlds  unknown. 


294 


Appendix 


LIKE  Confucius,  we  may  say,  if  right  principles 
ruled,  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  us  to  try 
to  change  the  status.  Confucius  did  not  profess 
to  be  an  originator,  but  a  conservator  of  truth  and 
morals  previously  taught,  showing  at  that  early 
period  that  high  virtue  and  morality  were  attrib- 
uted to  a  still  earlier  time,  and  had  been  conceived 
and  taught  ages  before.  The  constitution  and 
nature  of  man  show  the  foundation  of  all  subse- 
quent reasoning  in  the  slow  discovery  of  truth,  that 
is  still  but  partly  and  fragmentarily  understood. 
Confucius  taught,  by  the  force  of  example,  that 
it  needed  virtue  in  the  higher  positions  of  life  to 
secure  it  in  the  lower. 

A  belief  in  a  future  life  existed  before  Confu- 
cius, but  he  made  no  pretence  to  any  knowledge 
of  it,  saying,  "  While  you  do  not  know  life,  what 
can  you  know  about  death?"  The  speculations 
of  modern  investigators  into  the  unknown  have 
been  varied  and  contradictory;  based  as  they  are 

295 


upon  the  unknowable,  they  are  simple  types  of 
imaginative  intellect,  and  are  of  no  real  scientific 
value.  Schopenhauer's  pessimistic  view  is,  that 
human  life  is  a  useless  disturbance  of  the  exquisite 
tranquillity  of  nothingness.  "  If  birth  implies  an 
origin  from  nothingness,  then  death  must  be  com- 
plete annihilation."  Consciousness  ceases  at  death, 
but  the  cause  that  produced  that  consciousness 
persists;  life  comes  to  an  end,  but  not  the  princi- 
ple which  became  manifest  by  life. 

The  idea  of  Hartman  that  the  joys  of  youth  are 
short  and  will  terminate  in  melancholy  old  age 
is  flatly  contradicted  by  my  happy  old  age  of  ninety- 
four. 

The  Jews  at  one  time  embraced  the  doctrine 
of  transmigration;  the  Jewish  Bible,  it  is  asserted 
by  some,  develops  no  idea  of  future  life.  Bushner 
("  Force  et  Matiere ")  declares  that  Buddhism, 
the  most  wide-spread  and  among  the  most  an- 
cient religions,  ignores  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
Haeckel  also  confirms  this.  Buddha  avoids  the 
statement  of  this  matter.  The  Jewish  Talmud, 
depicting  life  beyond  the  grave,  says,  "  There  is 
neither  eating  nor  drinking ;  the  good  sit  there  with 
crowns  on  their  heads  and  see  God  in  bliss."  The 
early  Chinese  religion  was  ancestor  worship.  Con- 
296 


fucius  does  not  change  this;  his  followers  and  the 
Taoists  believe  in  a  future  life. 

Metchnikoff  largely  expounds  what  are  called 
by  him  the  "  disharmonies  "  of  human  life. 

The  early  savage  buries  with  the  dead  weapons 
and  other  belongings,  and  sometimes  slaves,  wives, 
etc.,  to  serve  him  in  another  world;  food  is  often 
buried  with  the  dead,  and  is  subsequently  placed 
upon  the  grave  from  time  to  time. 

Religion  has  concerned  itself  with  human  nat- 
ural functions,  especially  with  those  of  procrea- 
tion, generally  to  thwart  all  natural  proclivities, 
never  for  the  purpose  of  properly  controlling  them 
by  reason;  but  to  antagonize  and  abolish  them. 
Holding  the  body  in  contempt  is  the  acme  of  holi- 
ness; hence  all  the  torture  of  self  and  others,  to 
appease  God. 

Metchnikoff  says:  "A  future  life  has  no  single 
argument  to  support  it,  and  the  non-existence  of 
life  after  death  is  in  consonance  with  human  knowl- 
edge." 

To  follow  the  train  of  thought  upon  the  subject 
of  death,  and  the  speculations  of  saints  and  sages 
upon  the  subsequent  results,  would  be  an  endless 
task.  Among  the  thinkers  there  be  those  who  be- 
lieve in  a  future  state  of  existence;  of  these  latter 
297 


the  varieties  are  innumerable,  and  often  founded 
upon  the  assumption  of  a  revelation  from  a  spir- 
itual authority.  These  of  course  gain  the  greater 
number  of  adherents;  their  credulous  followers, 
in  their  desire  to  attain  impossible  knowledge, 
overlook  the  credible,  and  accept  the  fallacies  of 
charlatans  or  fanatics. 

Marcus  Aurelius  assumed  that  death,  like  birth, 
is  one  of  nature's  mysteries,  and  he  taught  that 
man  must  live  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  his 
nature,  —  that  "  nothing  can  happen  to  you  that 
is  not  in  accordance  with  nature's  universal  law." 
The  limbs  can  only  perform  the  functions  for  which 
they  were  intended,  and  man  only  defies  nature's 
laws  when  he  attempts  to  nullify  the  purposes  his 
organization  was  created  for.  The  functions  of 
his  reason  are  not  to  antagonize  his  nature,  but 
to  harmonize  it  with  the  world  in  which  he  lives. 
He  is  not  to  starve  himself  because  indulgence 
is  sinful;  but  to  control  his  appetite  properly  en- 
sures his  health  and  comfort,  and  is  consequently 
commendable  and  legitimate;  so  of  the  other  in- 
stincts and  organizations  over  which  intellect  has 
control.  The  function  of  procreation  not  only 
influences  our  being,  but  is  connected  with  that 
of  others,  and  consequently  requires  the  control- 
298 


ling  influence  of  human  intellect,  replacing  the 
temporary  instinct  of  the  lower  grades  of  animate 
nature;  but  the  ignoring  of  any  of  the  attributes 
with  which  we  are  gifted  is  a  crime  against  nature. 
This  applies  with  equal  force  to  our  mental  powers 
that  are  not  intended  to  antagonize  our  physical 
instincts,  but  are  designed  to  properly  direct  them 
and  to  pioneer  our  course  in  ascertaining  the  full 
extent  of  the  heritage  to  which  we  have  fallen  heirs 
and  of  which,  much  as  we  have  learned,  we  are 
still  largely  ignorant. 

Instead  of  studying  how  to  perfect  our  home  in 
this  world,  and  secure  the  greatest  amount  of  hap- 
piness to  ourselves  and  our  fellow  men,  the  ma- 
jority of  the  religious  world  is  intent  on  reaching 
out  into  the  fabulous  unknown  to  secure  "  man- 
sions in  the  skies,"  about  which  they  know  noth- 
ing and  only  have  received  vague  reports  from 
persons  whose  credentials  are  as  nebulous  as  their 
revelations. 

The  incomprehensible  idea  that  superimposes 
all  others  is  the  purpose  of  creation.  We  have 
ascertained  that  there  is  not  only  this  solar  system, 
of  whose  movements  we  have  acquired  a  wonder- 
ful amount  of  knowledge  within  very  recent  days, 
but  th£re  are  innumerable  other  planets,  infinitely 
299 


larger  than  this  world,  probably  belonging  to  other 
systems  of  which  as  yet  we  know  nothing.  While 
we  have  obtained  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  we 
live  on  a  revolving  orb  that  moves  in  a  determined 
orbit  around  the  sun,  and  that  there  are  numerous 
other  planets,  also  coursing  around  this  central 
attraction,  some  larger  and  some  smaller  than  our 
earth,  we  have  not  ascertained  if  they  are  inhab- 
ited by  any  living  entities.  With  this  profound 
ignorance  of  the  character  of  the  inhabitants  of 
other  planets,  including  even  our  small  satellite, 
the  moon,  we  know  nothing  of  the  other  systems 
of  which  we  have  no  indication  but  the  resplendent 
orbs  with  which  the  heavens  are  spangled.  We 
have  ascertained  that  the  sun  around  which  we 
revolve  is  a  million  times  bigger  than  the  earth. 
We  are  surrounded  by  living  entities,  animal  and 
vegetable,  so  innumerable  that  we  have  not  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  them  all  yet,  or  their  struc- 
ture or  properties,  but  we  do  know  that  life  per- 
vades all  this  known  creation  down  to  a  micro- 
scopic minuteness  not  yet  mastered  by  our  utmost 
ingenuity. 

As  we  mature  in  scientific  knowledge,  we  learn 
with    absolute    certainty    that    all    the    wonderful 
creations  upon  this  little  planet,  so  minute  a  por- 
300 


tion  of  what  we  know  creation  to  be,  were  not 
made  to  subserve  the  wants  and  purposes  of  man 
alone;  legions  of  them  never  had  any  contact  with 
or  relation  to  his  being;  we  know,  further,  that 
many  of  them  are  detrimental  to  it.  Thus  it  is 
apparent  that  man  is  only  one  among  many 
creations  on  this  little  world,  a  satellite  to 
one  a  million  times  bigger,  and  companion  to 
several  larger  ones  revolving  around  the  same 
centre. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  we  justly  realize  that  we 
are  the  most  perfect  of  the  creations  on  this  planet ; 
but  we  know  that  some  of  the  creatures  we  are 
surrounded  by  have  certain  senses  more  perfect 
than  ours;  notably,  sight,  scent,  and  hearing,  and 
very  many  are  stronger.  It  is  natural  for  us  to 
assume  that  we,  whose  intellects  are  so  far  above 
all  the  others,  are  the  favorites  of  the  originator; 
l)ut  were  all  these  inferior  beings,  created  with 
such  wonderful  skill,  accuracy,  and  beauty,  with 
such  diversified  accomplishments,  arts,  and  adorn- 
ments, many  of  which  we  have  but  just  discov- 
ered, and  some  of  which  we  are  yet  ignorant  of, 
created  simply  for  pastime,  with  no  ulterior  pur- 
pose but  their  evanescent  lives  wholly  unconnected 
with  man;  while  we  who  are  formed  on  the  same 
301 


general  plan,  and  are  almost  the  counterpart  of 
some  of  them,  have  a  radically  different  destina- 
tion? 

The  egotism  of  man  has  elevated  him  into  the 
most  important  position  in  creation,  which  anal- 
ogy does  not  warrant.  It  is  not  conceivable  that 
all  this  multiplex  and  infinitely  expanded  creation 
was  devised  solely  for  the  conservation  of  man, 
who  is  an  infinitesimal  part  of  it,  placed  upon  a 
minor  satellite  of  a  solar  system  that  is  probably  not 
the  most  preponderating  of  the  systems  of  visible 
stars.  We  realize  that  certain  laws  govern  the 
continuity  of  creation  as  far  as  we  are  cognizant 
of  it,  and  that  when  they  are  followed  by  us  the 
result  is  beneficial;  and  whenever  they  are  devi- 
ated from,  more  or  less  of  disaster  follows.  We 
are  conscious  that  our  knowledge  of  those  laws  is 
still  limited,  but  that  any  infraction  of  them  results 
adversely.  We  know  that  innumerable  ills  have 
arisen  from  ignorance  of  them,  and  that  no  expla- 
nation of  them  has  ever  been  vouchsafed  to  man 
save  by  his  own  labors  and  investigations.  If 
this  is  true  in  regard  to  physical  phenomena,  it  is 
rational  to  assume  that  it  holds  true  regarding 
mental  phenomena;  hence  the  only  legitimate 
source  upon  which  we  can  depend  for  our  knowl- 
302 


edge  of  existence  is  our  own  laborious  investiga- 
tion of  ascertained  facts. 

The  undeviating  course  of  creation  aeons  of 
ages  before  the  advent  of  man  produced  on  this 
planet  monstrous,  and  to  us  unmeaning,  living 
beings  that  have  become  extinct,  which  we  are 
now  unearthing,  like  the  more  recent  records  of 
forgotten  civilization.  The  purpose  of  this  is  be- 
yond human  knowledge  or  conjecture;  it  cer- 
tainly had  no  relation  to  the  well-being  of  man 
in  his  present  state  or  future  destiny,  although  it 
occupied  many  more  times  of  the  earth's  course 
than  the  career  of  man  upon  it.  We  see  that  na- 
ture will  not  deviate  from  its  appointed  laws,  for 
the  convenience  or  will  of  man;  but  we  know  that 
as  we  learn  more  and  more  of  those  laws  they  can 
be  employed  for  our  good,  or  avoided  when  harmful. 

The  acts  of  man  in  his  intercourse  with  his  fel- 
low man  are  an  epitome  of  life.  By  nature  he  is 
gregarious,  and  in  the  incipient  stages  of  associa- 
tion his  rights  and  acts  were  undefined,  he  was 
governed  alone  by  impulse  and  will,  and  the 
strongest  controlled  the  weakest  regardless  of 
justice.  When  this  became  unbearable  combina- 
tions were  formed  to  regulate  and  suppress  the 
tyranny.  This  has  engaged  the  energies  of  man 

303 


down  to  the  present  day,  without  arriving  at  an 
equilibrium,  owing  to  the  selfish  interests  of  indi- 
viduals in  formulating  laws  by  which  they  could 
gain  advantage  over  their  compeers. 

In  this  race  of  the  most  cunning  to  gain  ascend- 
ency over  their  less  appreciative  fellow  men,  the 
incipient  stages  of  discontent,  envy,  and  crime 
were  engendered,  and  it  is  to  this  stage  of  human 
civilization  that  we  should  look  for  the  incitement 
of  the  criminal  classes. 

In  the  progress  of  organized  society  the  most 
potent  factor  controlling  it  has  been  the  theolog- 
ical or  religious  element  growing  out  of  man's 
wonderment  at  the  inexplicable  creation  by  which 
he  was  surrounded.  This  afforded  an  opportu- 
nity for  designing  men  to  formulate  theories  of 
a  supreme  power,  giving  themselves  authority 
over  their  fellow  men  to  rule  them  by  divine  right, 
which  crystallized  into  autocratic  and  monarchical 
rule,  generally  dominated  by  priestly  control, 
which  was  made  to  strengthen  the  kingly  ruler. 
This  combination  of  church  and  state  has  descended 
to  modern  times,  and  forms  the  basis  of  all  mon- 
archical governments,  emphasized  by  a  kingly 
ruler  of  the  universe. 

This  shows  the  source  of  modern  speculations, 
304 


and  endless  philosophical  theories,  in  which  the 
world  has  often  been  charged  with  chaotic  wrong, 
instead  of  being  recognized  as  a  thoroughly  or- 
ganized immensity  under  immutable  law,  that 
cannot  be  antagonized  in  its  minutest  particular  with 
impunity.  From  an  ignorance  or  disregard  of  nat- 
ural laws  all  the  ills  of  life  that  men  complain  of  arise. 
Undoubtedly  the  source  of  unhappiness  in  human 
life  is  ignorance;  active  search  for,  and  attain- 
ment of  knowledge,  the  discovery  of  new  facts 
and  their  application  to  the  wants,  comfort,  and 
happiness  of  the  race  is  an  ever  increasing  source 
of  joy  to  the  earnest  observer.  The  idea  of  inac- 
tive happiness  is  inconceivable,  as  is  an  immova- 
ble world;  progress  is  the  fundamental  source  of 
happiness,  and  the  attainment  of  all  knowledge  — 
not  likely  to  curse  the  inhabitants  of  this  world  — 
would  produce  a  real  nirvana.  Perfect  happiness 
is  not  possible,  say  the  pessimists;  is  it  desir- 
able? Is  there  a  stronger  inducement  in  the  pur- 
suit of  knowledge  than  the  attainment  of  greater 
happiness,  greater  comfort,  which  if  perfectly  at- 
tained would  cause  a  cessation  of  energy?  The 
incitement  to  action,  the  prompting  to  do,  is  the 
mainspring  of  mental  activity,  and  consequently 
the  perfecting  of  our  existence. 

305 


It  is  a  trite  saying,  "  Man  was  born  to  die,"  but 
is  that  a  cause  of  sorrow  to  the  philosopher?  Do 
we  not  see  that  through  this  dispensation  life  is 
given  to  an  infinitely  greater  number  of  beings 
than  could  be  otherwise  possible?  There  is  a  uni- 
versal law  dominant  on  this  planet,  that  matter 
is  persistent  but  constantly  changing,  and  that 
where  any  stagnation  appears  an  active  agent  sets 
the  inert  matter  in  motion.  Even  the  rocks  and 
mountains  are  disintegrated,  but  the  elements 
remain. 

Man  is  no  exception  to  the  law  of  dissolution, 
but  that  is  no  reason  why  he  should  not  actively 
employ  to  their  utmost  capacity  all  the  functions 
with  which  he  is  endowed  for  his  well-being,  and 
enjoy  the  advantages  by  which  he  is  surrounded 
for  his  present  good.  Is  it  the  part  of  wisdom  to 
refuse  to  be  made  happy  by  present  joys  because 
we  are  uncertain  whether  or  not  we  shall  possess 
them  another  year?  Our  business  is  with  the 
present,  which  includes  effort  for  the  continuance 
of  our  prosperity  for  the  future  so  far  as  our  knowl- 
edge extends.  A  beautiful  trait  implanted  in  us 
gives  us  happiness  in  providing  for  our  offspring 
so  necessary  to  perpetuate  the  race,  which  is  en- 
joyed also  by  the  lower  animate  beings. 
306 


ftpjltttlrf? 

A  study  of  the  cause  and  origin  of  the  innumer- 
able legends  and  detailed  histories  of  supernat- 
ural phenomena  and  miraculous  events,  including 
interviews  between  gods  and  men,  with  which  the 
literature  of  the  world  is  permeated,  displays  a 
primitive  misconception  of  the  universe  and  the 
mundane  creation  prior  to  the  attainment  of  a 
knowledge  of  the  laws  that  control  the  phenom- 
ena producing  the  visible  world  as  it  is  now 
known. 

The  complex  structure  of  the  human  mind  has 
been  a  fruitful  source  of  speculative  research  in 
psychological,  metaphysical,  and  philosophical  prob- 
lems, commencing  long  anterior  to  recorded  his- 
tory. 

Records  of  actual  events  have  been  interspersed 
with  fables  about  gods  and  demons  that  have  in- 
terfered in  the  affairs  of  men  as  the  source  of  good 
and  evil,  while  the  fecund  efflorescence  of  thought 
striving  with  the  unknown  has  led  men  astray 
in  abstruse  speculations. 

The  intercourse  depicted  between  gods  and 
men  has  become  more  restricted  in  the  present 
age,  and  doubts  are  entertained  of  its  truthful- 
ness in  recent  times  —  if  familiarity  with  the  devil 
has  been  more  frequent,  and  continued  longer, 
3°7 


it  shows  a  penchant  for  the  "  horrible  and  awful," 
difficult  to  account  for. 

In  the  glimmering  dawn  of  historic  times,  as  we 
have  seen,  tradition  extends  far  back  into  anterior 
ages,  so  that  all  account  of  a  beginning  is  lost  in 
nebulous  fable.  There  were  many  sources  from 
which  issued  accounts  of  man's  origin,  all  of  them 
more  or  less  filled  with  the  marvellous,  but  all 
assuming  a  derivation  from  the  gods.  Of  those 
early  legends  we  need  only  allude  to  the  Hindu- 
stan, Babylonian,  Egyptian,  and  Chinese,  as  those 
cults  illustrate  the  progress  of  recorded  mental 
thought. 

In  the  East  are  found  the  earliest  traces  of  the 
human  race;  in  Hindustan  there  are  prehistoric 
works  massive  and  wonderful,  wrought  by  the 
hand  of  man;  of  the  origin  of  these  works  we 
have  no  knowledge,  but  they  emphasize  the  re- 
ligious fervor  of  their  originators.  In  that  land  of 
fruitful  legend  we  discover  traces  of  early  culture 
that  show  a  high  degree  of  refinement,  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  apparent  universe;  there  are  no  rec- 
ords extant  that  show  a  depth  of  thought  not  ex- 
ceeded in  modern  times;  from  their  traditions  we 
learn  they  claimed  to  be  the  first  inhabitants  of 
the  world,  that  had  existed  aeons  of  ages.  Their 
308 


sacred  records  are  written  in  a  language  that  has 
ceased  to  be  spoken  since  historic  time,  and  no 
tradition  remains  of  its  origin,  or  when  it  was  in 
use. 

The  Hindus  record  four  ages.  The  first  was  an 
age  of  purity,  in  which  men  were  giants,  and  lived 
to  an  immense  age.  They  were  innocent  and  un- 
selfish, living  in  a  state  of  nature.  This  age  was 
terminated  by  a  deluge  that  obliterated  every- 
thing. In  the  second  age  men  deteriorated  phys- 
ically and  mentally,  and  their  god  Brahma  placed 
over  them  a  ruler.  In  the  third  age  men  grew 
still  less  virtuous.  In  the  fourth  or  present  age, 
man's  life  was  limited  to  a  hundred  years;  it  was 
commenced  about  five  thousand  years  ago;  man's 
stature  was  diminished,  and  he  is  growing  smaller 
and  more  wicked.  Goodness,  purity,  unselfish- 
ness, and  justice  were  recognized  in  the  most  an- 
cient times  of  which  we  have  any  record,  and  were 
the  virtues  most  commended.  Such  is  an  outline 
of  the  knowledge  taught  in  primitive  ages  in  the 
earliest  records  of  human  effort. 

The  Chinese  trace  back  their  nation  to  an  age 
of  god-begotten  ancestry  full  of  the  higher  virtues, 
among  which  was  a  devotion  to  ancestry  and  a 
profound  respect  for  parents.  The  high  moral 

3°9 


teaching  and  civilization  inculcated  in  this  na- 
tion's advancement  culminated  in  the  maxims 
and  aphorisms  attributed  to  Confucius,  among 
which  is  the  golden  rule  unsurpassed  by  any  sub- 
sequent teaching  from  any  source.  "  Do  unto 
others  that  which  you  would  have  them  do  unto 
you;  and  do  not  unto  others  that  you  would  not 
they  should  do  unto  you;  this  is  all  of  the  law." 
In  what  other  maxim  attributed  to  gods  or  men 
has  there  been  embodied  so  much  of  wisdom  and 
virtue?  This  aphorism  in  varied  forms  has  been 
plagiarized  by  other  religionists  and  attributed 
to  their  gods  as  a  divine  revelation  emanating  from 
them. 

The  Egyptian  cult  dating  back  beyond  historic 
time  is  rilled  with  precepts  for  a  holy  life,  in  which 
the  highest  virtues  are  extolled.  In  the  Book  of 
the  Dead,  the  soul  of  the  departed  is  weighed  and 
examined  to  determine  the  recompense  or  pun- 
ishment it  is  to  receive  in  a  future  state. 

The  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  had  a  volumi- 
nous literature  stored  in  the  palaces  of  their  kings, 
fortunately  in  unimperishable  material,  that  has 
descended  to  us,  like  the  Egyptian  records,  uncor- 
rupted  by  ages  of  expositors;  their  legends  are 
full  of  ancient  traditions,  precepts,  and  morals, 
310 


with  an  accountability  to  a  supreme  being,  and 
with  an  apprehension  of  right  and  wrong;  among 
their  records  is  found  a  history  of  creation  which 
was  evidently  plagiarized  by  the  Jews  after  their 
return  from  captivity,  and  incorporated  into  their 
book  of  Genesis.  In  that  legend  there  is  a  curious 
fable  illustrating  the  phenomenon  of  procreation 
and  its  concomitant,  death.  A  man  and  a  woman 
were  created  by  God,  who  announced  to  them 
that  so  long  as  they  remained  hi  a  state  of  igno- 
rance (of  their  physical  powers)  they  should  live, 
but  when  they  transcended  that  state,  "  ate  of  the 
fruit  of  knowledge,"  they  should  surely  die;  the 
corollary  was  obvious,  a  multiplication  of  the 
species  involved  the  penalty  of  death;  as  the  race 
has  continued  to  perpetrate  the  sin  of  procrea- 
tion, the  penalty  of  death  continues  to  afflict 
mankind.  This  legend  is  doubtless  the  ori- 
gin of  the  unnatural  and  absurd  dogma  that  celi- 
bacy is  holy  and  commendable,  which  has  per- 
vaded numerous  religions  down  to  the  present 
day. 

One  fact  is  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  na- 
tions: they  all  personify  a  supreme  being  or  na- 
tional   God    that    originated    themselves    and    the 
creation    by   which    they   are    surrounded,   whose 
311 


habitation  was  generally  over  the  apparent  "  fir- 
mament "  above,  invisible  to  human  eyes.  What 
was  the  source  of  this  pervading  belief?  Was  it 
a  vicarious  revelation  from  God  to  man  without 
which  he  would  be  ignorant  of  the  fact,  or  was  it 
a  natural  deduction  derived  from  his  view  of  the 
objects  by  which  he  was  surrounded  and  of  whose 
origin  he  was  ignorant  ? 

Since  the  maturity  of  the  human  intellect  as  it 
now  appears,  men  have  been  striving  to  ascertain 
the  originator  of  the  creation  by  which  they  are 
surrounded.  This  universal  craving  has  begot- 
ten innumerable  theories  and  dogmatic  legends 
coined  from  the  fertile  brains  of  successive  genera- 
tions in  contact  with  nature,  from  which  imagi- 
nation drew  pictures  of  other  regions  inhabited 
by  superhuman  beings  with  unlimited  powers. 
To  enhance  and  confirm  the  superhuman  theories, 
it  was  asserted  that  the  authors  had  held  converse 
with  the  supreme  powers  who  revealed  the  sub- 
lime truths  they  announced.  Such  revelations 
were  received  with  unquestioning  faith  by  the 
credulous  multitude  and  congealed  into  religions, 
to  which  changes,  modifications,  and  additions 
were  from  time  to  time  made  to  suit  the  advance 
of  subsequent  knowledge. 
312 


The  exuberant  fancy  of  the  East  has  permeated 
all  religions  down  to  modern  times,  in  which  the 
supernatural  is  still  believed  in. 

We  have  attempted  to  briefly  show  that  instead  of 
the  stultifying  and  degrading  doctrine  that  the  in- 
clination of  man  is  evil,  he  has  aspired  from  earli- 
est times  to  become  good  and  virtuous  to  the  extent 
of  his  knowledge.  His  great  struggle  has  been  with 
ignorance,  and  the  misleading  teachings  of  unedu- 
cated pretenders  who  have  formulated  from  their 
own  fertile  brains  legends  innumerable  to  illus- 
trate their  conception  of  man's  duties. 

In  these  chapters  we  have  advanced  no  theory 
of  a  future  existence ;  every  one  must  determine  that 
question  for  himself.  We  have  shown  that  man 
has  never  had  any  revelation  except  from  the  coin- 
age of  his  own  fertile  brain,  as  his  fancy  dictated. 
No  one  has  adduced  any  fact  to  prove  annihilation 
at  death,  and  it  is  equally  true  that  we  have  no 
knowledge  of  a  future  existence  except  the  excogi- 
tations of  men  with  no  more,  if  as  much,  knowledge 
as  ourselves;  no  one  is  barred  from  either  belief  by 
any  attainable  fact  yet  discovered;  the  point  that 
every  rational  being  should  realize  is,  that  the 
whole  question  is  beyond  the  possibility  of  solution 
with  our  present  attainments. 
3*3 


The  whole  category  of  mental  phenomena  now 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  thinking  world  is 
obstructed  and  retarded  by  the  aberrations 
arising  from  preconceived  errors  and  assump- 
tions. 

Great  progress  has  been  made  in  analyzing  the 
powers  of  the  human  mind  in  influencing  and  being 
influenced  by  others;  the  phenomena  of  psychol- 
ogy, hypnotism,  and  analogous  sciences,  now  in 
embryo,  are  as  yet  without  a  fundamental  basis  of 
undisputed  fact,  hence  they  come  under  the  cogno- 
men of  spiritual  emanations.  With  a  better  knowl- 
edge of  the  brain's  attributes  in  nature  will  come 
fewer  mysteries. 

If  in  the  preceding  pages  I  have  in  the  smallest 
degree  aided  in  ridding  the  world  of  the  fictitious 
and  fiendish  theologies,  with  their  cumbersome  and 
artificial  laws  and  rules  (often  opposing  the  laws  of 
nature)  with  which  the  human  mind  has  in  all  his- 
torical ages  been  engulfed,  and  shown  that  the 
true  source  of  all  knowledge  acquired  by  man  is 
due  to  his  own  wonderful  powers  of  ratiocination 
and  observation  with  which  he  was  endowed  at 
birth,  unaided  by  any  supernatural  revelation  or 
other  aid  beyond  his  natural  surroundings,  I  shall 
have  achieved  my  purpose  of  directing  his  atten- 


tion  and  energies  from  the  fabulous  and  unreal  to 
the  true  purposes  of  his  existence,  with  a  correct 
understanding  of  his  relations  in  this  world  to  na- 
ture and  his  fellow  men. 


THE  END. 


315 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


; 


EDUCATION  LIBRARY 


General  Library 


YB  7164 


